Forum Topic

Ealing Broadway Centre

Just when I think the Centre can't get much worse, they erect a burger/sausage stall at the entrance on the High Street.  It looks like a permanent structure.  Is it just me ? or do people actually want the smell of fried onions etc everywhere ?

Pat Kingham ● 6175d32 Comments

Ealing Bids are a business lobby who are still promoting the Arcadia Leaf and want ever higher footfall and population density whilst their propaganda shows serene pictures of Walpole Park and the Questors!

Robert Darke ● 6164d

Surely not! They've just refitted their food hall; there isn't another one closer than Kew Retail Park; it's always really busy. Let it not be true!

Susan Kelly ● 6164d

Heard a rumour from a friend living closer to the Centre than I that Marks & Spencer were also thinking about moving out.  Has anyone heard anything about this, or was it just speculative gossip?

Robin Hall ● 6164d

Don't understand- what is the Ealing BIDS team ?

Pat Kingham ● 6164d

Don't understand- what is the Ealing BIDS team ?

Pat Kingham ● 6164d

On a lighter note I`ve visited three shops in the centre recently and found them well-stocked - the stall is way below their standard even if the Ealing BIDS team are serving!

Robert Darke ● 6164d

To have a John Lewis in Ealing Broadway would be a dream come true but I fear the die is cast now that Primark are in residence.

Pat Kingham ● 6164d

Sir Peter Hall`s lecture at the Ealing Civic Society clearly showed that piecemeal planning should be replaced by a much wider view in order to see the realistic longterm possibilities.The huge White City development will have a footprint extending for thirty miles, perhaps to Reading and its looking as if many areas will suffer. (Who actually approves these giant developments)?If the new owners can operate the centre at a lower cost level and substantially cut rents then better grade or specialist shops are more likely to be attracted and its quite acceptable for lower-end business to be encouraged further along in West Ealing, Acton, Hanwell and Southall.Alan`s perceptive remark about Primark locating at Daniels or maybe further along West Ealing would have helped both areas instead of which they have filled the space better occupied by a smaller new formula John Lewis.

Robert Darke ● 6165d

Apparently the Centre itself is up for sale.  Legal and General the current owners are asking £175 million.  It'll be interesting to see if it sells.

Pat Kingham ● 6165d

I park out along the river and walk in for both Kingston and Richmond. But Ealing isn't that bad yet.

Susan Kelly ● 6165d

Kingston has fantastic shopping. I agree about the parking though. Lucky in as much as I can park at my mum's or sisters and walk in.

Trizia Fiorellino ● 6165d

Yes and it's so pleasant to combine a bit of shopping with a walk by the river too. Hounslow is OK if you want really cheap stuff and I still like Kensington High Street.

Penny Crocker ● 6165d

Richmond has a lot of good shops although only Dickens & Jones as a department store.Parking isn't as expensive as Kingston. The 65 is a regular service and it's on the District line.

Pat Kingham ● 6165d

I think their leases must have come to a break point and they're waiting for White City and/or Dickens Yard to open. I hate Kingston (bad and very expensive parking) and don't like Brent cross much......not easy to find any decent suburban shopping now. Ah well, all saves the credit card I suppose.

Penny Crocker ● 6165d

I'm sure Evans, Miss Selfridge and Wallis will be there - Dolcis has gone bust I think. I don't usually like those massive shopping centres. I think I may have to go and do my shopping in Kingston - pain traffic wise but I think White City will be bedlam

Trizia Fiorellino ● 6165d

Not just me then. Are they all going to decamp to the White City Shopping Centre ?

Pat Kingham ● 6165d

Wallis closed, Miss Selfridge closed, the book shop next door to Miss S closed, Dolcis and Evans closing this week -more to follow I'm sure - probably to be replaced by yet more pound shops - awful awful shopping area now. So sad to see

Trizia Fiorellino ● 6165d

The new Primark is nice and tidy. Long may it stay so. The one in Hammersmith looks like the aftermath of a particularly brutal jumble sale.

Susan Kelly ● 6166d

Should have gone into the old M&s building. I actually did write to them when Marks closed and received no reply. Still, Wilkinson's is useful I suppose

Penny Crocker ● 6171d

Primark more suitable in West Ealing?Other than the fact there was/is no retail space available of the size required in West Ealing and there is no Underground or tram connection to the area it was probably a no-hoper.It's a pity they couldn't have put in the Daniel's rebuild. It's certainly more popular than any polyclinic will ever be...

Alan Brainsby ● 6171d

I agree West Ealing would have been better suited but there wouldn't be anywhere large enough for them.  It did seem to me to be the tidiest Primark I've ever been in but that might be because it's new.

Pat Kingham ● 6171d

I went to Primark on Saturday and virtually every person in the shopping centre was carrying one of their bags. In general other retailers seemed to think that it was a good thing for Ealing, drawing in more people and it certainly seemed that way to me. There was the food market on and that may have contributed but there were defintiely more bodies around. I still think Primark would have been better situated in West Ealing where it was more suitable and would have revived that flagging area.

Penny Crocker ● 6171d

Odd, given that Bentalls/Beales had a set of lavs they could have kept. I expect they thought that people would go to Marks or use the public ones at the other end of the mall. If you're selling a tee shirt for £2 maybe you can't afford lav paper.Primark surely wouldn't have opened up in Ealing if they didn't expect thriving business. I still avoid the mall on Saturday afternoons because of the crush and I've seen no sign of a change there.

Susan Kelly ● 6173d

"...but Primark are pretty savvy operators."Are they?  It's certainly very busy in there and there's an exciting buzz, as if it's sale time. There was an enormous line waiting to pay, all very good for Primark's takings.  But, when I asked what seemed to be a bevy of managers if there were customers' lavatories, they looked at me in amazement and said there were none. :-(

Gerry Tan ● 6173d

There's surely always go to be a market for a mall in Ealing. I have long said that one can buy pretty much everything there. The growing number of empty stores is a a worry but Primark are pretty savvy operators. Remember what shopping in Ealing was like before the mall? The old Bentalls might have been a time warp to the 1950s; and John Sanders was hilariously awful.

Susan Kelly ● 6174d

Rumour has it the the centre's owner Legal & General has found a buyer for the site. If this proves to be true one wonders what a new owner might do with the site?Refurbish it perhaps?Maybe knock it down and build another retail Mall.Or maybe the developer will choose the very popular option these days ... and build tower blocks of flats.

Eric Alan Leach ● 6174d

There are too many empty shops in Ealing Broadway and I see yet more have "Closing Down" signs in shop windows! How very depressing!

Robert Julian Fernandez ● 6174d

It was the last time I saw HM, in fact the only time.

Graham Weeks ● 6174d

I agree, Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre looks a touch tired and down-at-heel. Sad really as it started so well when it opened years ago - opened by no less than our Queen!  Lesser royals open retail centres but to have a queen open ours was something very special.

Gerry Tan ● 6174d

"Up-market" shops need "upmarket" punters.Where does one find enough of them in Ealing?

Alan Brainsby ● 6175d

What I meant was, so many empty shops in the Centre itself with none of the higher end High Street chains except for Monsoon.  Also the street kiosks that give the place a street market feel. Ealing Broadway used to have a more upmarket air about the place so I hope it is a temporary stall.

Pat Kingham ● 6175d

Isn't that just a temporary stall that's part of the food stalls within the central square?  It was parked up on one of the driveways near the Jarvis earlier in the week, so it definately is not a permanent structure.I tried one of the spicy bratwursts yesterday - very nice it was too.That aside, what makes you say the Centre is getting worse?

James Lockwood ● 6175d