The Ealing Broadway shopping centre has just been bought by British Land. They clearly think it's a good investment.
Susan Kelly ● 4796d21 Comments
Now we always walk down(and return up) from the EBSC - my GP thinks I'm a good lad.
Gerry Tan ● 4790d
I agree, Harold. The sign on one of the two central lifts saying that it's 'temporarily' out of order is just insulting: it's been months.
Susan Kelly ● 4791d
One of the big problems at the Centre and has been ongoing for a very long time is there is always lifts out of order as someone in a wheelchair this is a must as I cant get down from the car park there is a lift that has been out of order for over three months and nobody gives a dame so how do they think people will use the place its not just me its also people with children with pushchairs so that's why people go else were
Mr. Harold J Ward ● 4791d
definatley a good idea, got my vote. The market and the car park.
Marie Shelny ● 4791d
Damn fine idea.Complete with a dead handy multi-storey car park in Springfield Road as well.
Tony Colliver ● 4792d
What would boost Ealing as a shopping destination is a market hall. The Waterglade centre cleared of all the existing shops would be ideal with an open ground floor and a gallery of small shops. The hall would have a food section with fresh veg, fish meat etc and all kinds of small specialist stalls. The Borough market of the West ?
Keith Mason ● 4792d
The car park reminds me of this funny sketch on The Onion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEyFH-a-XoQ
Alex Weel ● 4794d
Alot of the shoppers on oxford street are tourists or they work up there. Alot of other shoppers, like myself only go there for specific things I cant buy locally. I would be more inclined to buy more (spend more) if I dont have to lug bags on to buses and trains. It is the exact reason that ealing broadway is not doing well. It used to take so long to park I'd carry on driving 'til I'd get to harrow or uxbridge etc. I said years ago if ealing didnt offer better parking and stop banging on about getting people to use buses it would suffer. And it has. probabley easier to park there now, as there's hardley any shops left worth stopping for. A shame but they did nothing to address the problem. Are you sure the shops on oxford street are doing that well? Apart from flagship department stores, I doubt it.
Marie Shelny ● 4794d
I currently use Springbridge road but assume this is about to close?
Penny Crocker ● 4794d
there are another 600 public parking spaces in the new Dickens yard development - not sure whether the car park is open yet though.
Tony Gould ● 4794d
The main car park is very badly laid out, IMO. You have to drive all over it, every level, to get to the top, then the same coming down. I always go first thing when it's quiet but it's a nightmare at peak times.
Susan Kelly ● 4794d
Realistically in order for a suburb to attract shoppers, it's going to need adequate parking. If I couldn't park easily in EB then I wouldn't bother to go there at all. Would go somewhere why I could do my shopping and load it into my car boot without struggling home on a bus or tube and then a 10 minute walk.
Penny Crocker ● 4795d
More parking? Oxford Street seems to thrive without it.
Philip Coe ● 4795d
I see from the front-page story that British Land are talking about it as a retail 'destination'. Trouble is that there's not enough parking to accommodate any more shoppers.
Susan Kelly ● 4795d
Yes, a decent deli would be nice.
HMV gone bust. Haberdashery? Not for a shopping centre surely. Average spend and profit margin must be quite small. I suspect off pitch only. Deli fine. Maybe some kind of food court at above ground level?
Let's hope the new owners will inject some life into EBSC. IMO there are too many mob phone shops and who wants two perfume shops or cheap men's fashion shop? We could do with a good record shop(HMV perhaps) and a couple of top rate delis that serve hot salt beef and umpteen real pickles products. We could do with a good haberdashery place too. Please, no more coffee shops.
Gerry Tan ● 4795d
Apparently they paid £142,500,000 for it and it yields 6.9% on rents. Doesn't sound like a bad investment.Those of us who remember the days pre M&S are just grateful!
As British Land are one of the biggest property companies in the UK I assume they have the resources and ideas to turn the Centre around.As for M&S, certainly an essential anchor, but other than the food hall I find the store a little drab and dated.
Philip Coe ● 4796d
So long as there's a nice big M&S, I'm happy. That said, there was a bit of an exodus when Westfield opened and we could maybe do with a proper department store like dear old Bentalls.Too many mobile phone shops.
Susan Kelly ● 4796d
How many owners have there been for EBSC?What are the best things about our shopping centre?What are the awful thhings about it?
Gerry Tan ● 4796d