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Spend, spend, spend says Boris as Westfield opens
Jonathan Prynn, Rashid Razaq and Benedict Moore-Bridger30.10.08
Boris Johnson today called on Londoners to spend, spend, spend to lift the capital's troubled economy out of recession.
Opening the £1.6 billion Westfield London shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush, he said shoppers needed to “invest in Christmas presents” as an antidote to the gloom.
His advice came as thousands of first-day visitors poured into the 43-acre complex to snap up bargains at the biggest urban mall in Europe.
Mr Johnson said they should not let money “silt up” in their bank accounts but spend it to beat the gloom.
The Mayor, who pledged to buy a new suit on his visit, said everyone was “popping the gloomadons” but said the new shopping centre was a reason to
be cheerful.
He said: “It is a wonderful vote of confidence in London — I am absolutely thrilled. The worst thing you can do is have a self-perpetuating cycle of gloom. Westfield is an investment in London's future that will continue to exist long after the recession has gone away.
“If anything can persuade the British public not to worry too much but to spend, it will be the Westfield shopping centre.”
Three retail bosses, also at the opening, urged Londoners not to be downcast by the gloomy economic news. Topshop owner Sir Philip Green claimed his Arcadia group's latest sales figures are bucking the high street trend and would “surprise the pessimists”.
Sir Philip, who attended the store opening of his rival Marks & Spencer, said: “It's not all doom and gloom. I've just got a text message with our latest figures. It's going to be a good week. It's half-term and the weather is cold, people are going to be in here shopping.”
M&S chairman Sir Stuart Rose was similarly upbeat. “London is actually under-shopped for us. We'd like to extend our Oxford Street and Kensington stores, but there isn't the room. There will be some drop in footfall in central London, but we're confident there is scope for growth.”
House of Fraser chief executive John King, said: “We've invested £150 million in improving our stores in the last two years. Our year to date figures show we're up 2.7 per cent on last year.” The Mayor played down fears that the mall will take consumers away from nearby high streets. He said: “If anything it will bring a lot of people to the area and all the shops will benefit.”
About 7,000 jobs have been created by the development, with 1,000 going to local people. The new Wood Lane Tube station which feeds the shopping centre is part of a public transport investment programme in the area that it is hoped will result in 60 per cent of visitors to the centre coming by bus or train.
The opening, with a performance by X-factor winner Leona Lewis, came after a battle against the clock to get the centre ready for launch. An army of labourers, store employees, cleaners and engineers worked through the night to meet the 9am deadline to transform a messy building site into a state-of-the-art shopping mall. Evidence of their scramble was visible, with heavy construction equipment left on the service roads surrounding the centre and blobs of dried concrete still visible by mid afternoon.
Shop staff told how plumbers charged £300 an hour to work through the night. Even so, staff in a beauty salon said they had to leave taps running all day today to stop the smell of sewage escaping the pipes. One early visitor described “a sea of humanity” filling the mall shortly after its 9am opening. “It is very, very crowded,” he said.
About 250 shops and 30 restaurants start trading today, 85 per cent of the total. Michael Gutman, managing director of Westfield in Europe, denied that the deadline had been too ambitious. He said: “The mall looks fantastic, but there will always be teething issues we will have to deal with. We wanted to give retailers the best possible launch into Christmas.”
Yasmin Le Bon cut the ribbon at House of Fraser while Twiggy and Erin O'Connor were special guests, joining Sir Stuart at M&S.
Reader views (20)
Tell Boris I will"soend, spend, spend" when I dont have to use most of my paycheck to pay an exorbitant rent to live in the city of my birth.
- Lforaday, London, England
Mr Johnson said they should not let money “silt up” in their bank accounts but spend it to beat the gloom....Just the type of irresponsible statement we have all come to expect from this idiot Mayor...does he not have access to the figures on the UK’s populations personal debt?
As for the centre itself, it just another ‘soulless temple to consumerism’ which will inevitably kill of local traders and business and help destroy the local areas character... This country does not need any more of these!!!
- Ade, London
No! No! No!
- Frederick, London, UK
With Westfield, the preference of planners to cater exclusively to big business continues. Buses travel to the shopping centre past small shops without stopping, while plans are afoot to remove what limited visitor parking those small shops have now, and devote it exclusively to residents to "protect them from Westfield".
What utter hypocrisy. The cost of storing a car on-street long-term ("residents' permits") anywhere in London should now be quadrupled, with dedicated free short stay parking for small shops made a prescriptive priority in the London plan. 1 per shop, minimum.
- Reg, London
Not a mention in your story, but I'd like to remind London that Westfield is the brainchild of an Aussie, Frank Lowy.
A Czech refugee, Lowy's arrived in Oz in the 1950s and started business as a sausage seller. His story is truly remarkable and reflects the freedoms and opportunities that abound in the land Down Under. Boris would be proud of him. Look Frank Lowy up on the Net - it's worth the read.
- Patrick, Willunga, Australia
Welcome to our world. Adelaide, South Australia with an urban population of approximately 1 million people has three Westfield Centres (7th and 20th largest in Australia). These monolithic structures have removed all sense of community shopping within a 20 kilometre radius of each. The destruction of local shopping streets (your High Street) then results in an increase in rent for retailers in a Westfield centre as it is impossible to exist outside of the Westfield environment. Higher rents will ultimately equal higher prices to the captive/captivated! consumer. Stores open to 10pm an 11pm at night for the lingering customer all serviced by underpaid assistance. I’m amazed this centre was allowed to proceed. Good-bye Kensington High Street. Good-bye Hammersmith. Good-luck Bradford your next.
- Oliver Edwards, Adelaide, S. Australia
Good to see the Aussies (Westfield Shopping Centres)answering the call to the mother country to help it out in the time of another crisis!
- Jeff, Hobart, Australia
same all bull****!
a little bit of glass, chrome and escalators and people go mad 
I like my local shops
- Arthur, London, UK
Westfield is FABULOUS! A taste of Hollywood right on my doorstep. I bought a dress, milk and decent loaf of bread. Everyone will shop there now. The engineers, architects, and all involved should be so proud. There were lots of men in suits looking very pleased. I am so happy with my new neighbours. A wonderful experience apart from the outside area bins which were overflowing at 10 am and still were at 8pm. As for Boris, he's on a different planet isn't he.
- Linda, London W11
The moaners are out again I see. I find it insulting to Londoners to think they would follow Boris's wishes and crash their credit cards on his direction. I went to Westfield today and found it to be quite a spectacle, It's just what Sheperd's Bush has been crying out for the last twenty years. Yay Westfield!
- Julian, London
We spent the day there and it was just great. The staff were friendly and helpful, the choice of shops was endless, and Leona was great (of course!) We reached there with one easy bus journey - pretty much door to door. We probably won't struggle up to Oxford St. ever again. We will be back to Westfield however - too many shops - not enough time! Hooray for Westfield
- Ros Borkowska, Putney, London
That's right: Do as the government does - spend spend spend. And never mind if you're already in debt. Carry on spending!
- Delphine, Oxford
In the first place, Mayor Johnson encouraged people to spend money that they have - not incur more debt. If you want to critise, at least quote the report accurately.
Secondly, is it absolutely necessary to greet every new endeavour with gloom and doom. Lets break the habit of a lifetime and look on the bright side and marvel in the bravery and forsight of a major investor like Westfield. My husband got a years work out of this and with two small children, I'm greatful!
- Sarah, Bexleyheath, UK
Just been there, seems plenty of people but no ones buying anything
- Al Stuart, ealing
I noticed how Boris failed to thank his predecessor for all the public transport investment that he got Westfield to pay for. Will Boris be able to negotiate similar co-funding from new developents?
Now what this area needs is the West London Tram scheme to reduce future congestion, perhaps the tram could take over the West Cross Route and then the Ealing - Sudbury branch instead of the orginal route.
As for Boris calling for Londoners to spend, spend, spend you are talking about someone who has never known what its like to go without. Anyway there is still plenty of money around beside which "money was made round to go around."
Hopefully, this will lead to a tidy up of the scruffy area around Shepherds Bush Green.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
Lend us a tenner, Bo-bo.
- No Mayoral Purse, Hammersmith
Dhanraj is right but there are plenty of fools out there who will heed to Boris's call. Financial gravity can only be temporarily defied until you suddenly find yourself on your arse and in debt
- John, Leighton Buzzard, Beds
So the new Mayor of London is encouraging hard-pressed Londoners to splash out at a time when mortgages, fuel and food are expensive. That is plain irresponsible.
- Keith Price, Luton, England
Sadly for Westfield, history is not on their side. Remember the luxurious development in Kensington Palace Green in the early 1990s, the equivalent to the present One Hyde Park development in Knightsbridge today? That caused the developer to go bust. Then of course there was Canary Wharf whose Canadian developer also went bust. As with the "Ark" in Hammersmith where the lender, Barclays offered any new tenant £10 million to rent that office block. Only years later, subsequent new owners make money.
- George, London, UK
How irresponsible of Johnson to get poor Londonners into even more debt.
- Dhanraj, Basildon
