Reflections on Lakeside

Poor old Lakeside seems to live in the shadow of its more glamorous rival across the Thames, Bluewater. It had been a few years since I’d visited so I thought I’d pop in whilst in the area visiting Best Buy last week.

The sense that it gets a little bit ignored was heightened by the M&S store, which looks like it hasn’t been touched since the centre opened in 1990. With most of the chain, and certainly the shopping centre stores, having been refurbed with the green on black ‘Your M&S look’, it was weird seeing such a big store with the really dated looking green on white fascia, complete with lots of coats of arms everywhere.

Elsewhere though, the centre looked bang up to date. It’s been refurbished with a very clean and very white look, and felt very spacious, a feeling accentuated by the fairly sparse number of customers on a Monday afternoon. I seem to remember it originally had a rather odd maritime theme when it opened which was dated almost straight away, but it has been replaced by something which should stand the test of time much better.

Primark adds to the mix as a new anchor yet the centre has succeeded in avoiding getting a value feel to it despite its modest surroundings and the competition acress the river, and there seemed to be some good stores opening, with Cult/Superdry working on a big unit, and not too many voids.

The only shame was that the spacious feeling was spoilt by some a lot of seriously tacky RMUs which do the centre no favours and antagonise the retail tenants. I know landlords have to boost their revenues by all means possible in these difficult times, but these temporary traders do nothing for a centre which has an otherwise smart feel.

Like their tenants, shopping centres need to continue to evolve if they are to survive. As it enters its third decade, Lakeside is showing how that can be done.