Brent Cross upgrade works delayed by six months

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 22, 2018

The mega-sized Brent Cross mall upgrade is being delayed with work that had been due to start next month now expected to begin only in January, it emerged this week. That means the crucial opening date for the giant mall will now be March 2023 rather than September 2022.

The £1.4 billion rebuild will see Brent Cross more than doubling in size and taking its place among the leading malls in the UK. Originally opened in 1976, it had fallen behind in recent years as other giant London area malls such as Bluewater and the two Westfields attracted the biggest names and large numbers of shoppers.

The overhaul will mean more than 200 new stores will be added, as well as key leisure attractions such as 60 restaurants, a hotel and a cinema.

But by the time it opens it will still have stiff competition following Westfield London’s recent major expansion and more London area developments such as the rebuild of what was the Whitgift Centre in Croydon.

As well as stores, Brent Cross’s redevelopment will see features such as a new "living bridge" that is being built for pedestrians over the A41/A406 interchange and there will also be a new railway station set to make the journey from central London just 15 minutes, a key detail for any suburban London mall.

The delay to the start date has been blamed on issues linked to compulsory purchase orders for the wider revamp scheme in the area.