Bluewater Shopping Centre
Mall facts and statistics
Location	Greenhithe, Kent, United Kingdom
Hours	{{{hours}}}
Opening date	March 16, 1999
Architect	{{{architect}}}
Developer	Prudential Lend Lease Europe Ltd Lend Lease Retail Partnership Hermes
Management	{{{manager}}}
Owner	{{{owner}}}
No. of stores and services	330
No. of anchor tenants	3
Total acreage	{{{acreage}}}
Total retail floor area	1,600,000 ft² (154,000 m²)
Parking	{{{parking}}}
No. of floors	2
Website	{{{website}}}

Bluewater Shopping Centre is a large out-of-town shopping mall located in Greenhithe in the borough of Dartford, just outside London in north-west Kent. It was opened on March 16, 1999 and is connected by shuttle bus to Greenhithe railway station. All trains running between Gravesend and Dartford now stop at Greenhithe, which had previously been served infrequently. In May 2005, it hit controversy for becoming one of the first shopping malls in the UK to ban swearing, smoking (except in designated areas) and the wearing of baseball caps or hooded tops for the comfort of its customers. Over 400 CCTV cameras monitor the building, and there is a deployment of Kent Police officers in and around the mall at all times. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 859 KB) Bluewater Shopping Centre From http://www. ... Greenhithe is a village in the Kent borough of Dartford. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... Prudential plc is a United Kingdom based financial services company. ... The King of Prussia Mall, one of the largest in the world, located in Pennsylvania, United States For the traditional meaning of the word mall, see pedestrian street or promenade. ... Greenhithe is a village in the Kent borough of Dartford. ... Dartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. ... London is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom, and is the most populous city in the European Union. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Greenhithe railway station serves the town of Greenhithe in North Kent and Bluewater shopping centre. ... Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. ... Dartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. ... A baseball cap worn with the bill at the front, shading the eyes A baseball cap is a type of soft cap with a long, stiffened and curved peak and it is worn by men, women and children. ... A hoody (sometimes also spelled hoodie) is a pullover sweatshirt with a hood. ... The two-year-old Jamie Bulger being led away by his killers, recorded on shopping centre CCTV. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is the use of television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific, limited set of monitors. ... Kent Police is the police force covering Kent in England, including the unitary authority of Medway. ...

Site

The centre covers an area of 154,000 m² (1,600,000 ft²) making it one of the largest shopping centres in the United Kingdom. It was built in a former chalk quarry and is jointly owned by four major UK institutions, Prudential plc (35%), Lend Lease Europe Ltd (30%), the Lend Lease Retail Partnership (25%) and Hermes (10%). A small cinder quarry A dimension stone quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. ... This article refers to Prudential plc, based in the United Kingdom. ... Hermes bearing the infant Dionysus, by Praxiteles Hermes (Greek IPA ), in Greek mythology, is the god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators, literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures and invention and commerce in general, of liars, and of...

Bluewater interior

The centre is in a triangle shape on two levels with a large department store at each corner. These are House of Fraser, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. There are over 27 million visitors a year to the site and it includes over 330 stores and 40 cafés, bars and restaurants plus a 13-screen Cinema. It has parking spaces for 13,000 cars. The Bollywood film Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham was filmed there. In 2005, it became home to the third Apple store in the UK, after the Bullring store in Birmingham, and Regent Street store in London. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x640, 115 KB) Bluewater Shopping Centre From http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x640, 115 KB) Bluewater Shopping Centre From http://www. ... A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three vertices and three sides which are straight line segments. ... House of Fraser is a British department store group with around 60 stores across the country. ... A John Lewis store in Glasgow The John Lewis Partnership is a major United Kingdom retailer, operating department stores and, through its Waitrose subsidiary, upmarket supermarkets. ... Marks & Spencer plc is mint(known also as M&S and sometimes colloquially as Marks and Sparks or Marks) is a British retailer. ... Movie poster of one of the most popular films—Sholay (1975) Bollywood (Hindi: बॉलीवुड, Urdu: بالیوُڈ) is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry in India. ... Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (Devanagari : कभी खुभी कभी ग़म - Sometimes Laughter, Sometimes Tears) is a Bollywood film released in India and countries with large NRI populations on December 14, 2001. ... Apple Computer, Inc. ... The Quadrant at the bottom of Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street and thoroughfare in Londons West End. ... London is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom, and is the most populous city in the European Union. ...

Competition

Bluewater is in direct competition with Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock on the other side of the Thames. Many large retail chains are represented in the mall, such as HMV, Zara, Next, Topshop, New Look, Boots, WH Smith, Virgin Megastores, Waterstone's and Jessops. Notably missing are Woolworths and Argos; rumours abounded that the reputations of these two shops led to them being declined positions at the mall. In addition, there are many one-off boutique shops, many being open solely in Bluewater, or as a complementary store to its London branch. Lakeside Shopping Centre exterior The Lakeside Shopping Centre is a large out-of-town shopping mall located in West Thurrock in the borough of Thurrock, just beyond the eastern boundary of Greater London. ... Thurrock is a unitary authority in England. ... Several places exist with the name Thames, and the word is also used as part of several brand and company names Most famous is the River Thames in England, on which the city of London stands Other Thames Rivers There is a Thames River in Canada There is a Thames... His Masters Voice, usually abbreviated to HMV, is a famous trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record company. ... A Zara store in ifc, Central, Hong Kong. ... Next logo Next on Oxford Street Next PLC is a British clothes retailer, with its headquarters in Enderby, Leicestershire, England. ... Topshop is a clothing retailer in the United Kingdom. ... New Look is a chain of high street shops in Britain, popular at first with girls in the 12-24 age bracket but has recently diversified into mens clothing. ... Boots Group PLC (LSE: BOOT), known as Boots, is the dominant pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom, with outlets in most high streets throughout the country. ... This article is about the bookshop chain; for the businessman and politician of that name, see William Henry Smith. ... Virgin Megastores are a chain of record shops throughout the world, established by Richard Branson. ... Gower Street branch Simpsons of Piccadilly, now a branch of Waterstones Waterstones is a United Kingdom based chain of bookshops. ... Jessops logo Jessops is Britains largest specialist photographic retailer, with over 260 stores nationwide. ... // About Woolworths Group plc is a general merchandise business in the United Kingdom. ... Argos is the largest general-goods retailer in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland with over 660 stores. ...

Features

In addition to its large retail area, Bluewater offers recreational facilities including the Nestlé All Stars Active Zone, the Blue Rock Climbing Wall, the Timberland Discovery Trail, Fishing, Cycles and Tandems, Boating, Showcase Cinemas, and Molton Brown Day Spa. There are numerous food outlets, miniature golf and a creche.

See also

• London Buses route 96
• London Buses route 492
• Greenhithe railway station

London Buses route 96 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. ... London Buses route 492 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London and Kent, United Kingdom. ... Greenhithe railway station serves the town of Greenhithe in North Kent and Bluewater shopping centre. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Bluewater Shopping Centre

• Official site
• Mall bans shoppers' hooded tops