First Impressions of Eastfield
As Bill Turnbull has used the colloquial term for London’s newest cathedral of shopping, I feel free to use it now and in future, as so many do.
So what is it like?
These pictures show that it is glitzy and it was very busy today.
Here are a few more detailed points.
The Marks and Spencer is enormous and I was actually able to find some trousers for the winter in my size of a 30 waist and a 29 leg. I joked with the assistant, that all the small sizes get bougt by the staff and he didn’t disagree.
The food hall is also large and there was both good and bad news. There was no gluten-free sandwiches, but the manager, told me she’d had that question several times in the day. So perhaps Marks will sort that one out.
John Lewis was its usual self and probably almost as large as Oxford Street.
But it was the next door Waitrose that was impressive. I’ve not seen a bigger one, that wasn’t a food shop with a mini-John Lewis attached like the one near Higham Ferrers. It seemed that they were trialing a few new products, including some Genius fruit bread, that I’d not seen before. This Waitrose will probably become the shop where I’ll go for special food shopping instead of Canary Wharf or Jones Brothers, but I’ll still do general grocery shopping at Upper Street, as they deliver. Eastfield doesn’t deliver as far as me.
The restaurants I saw, were not my sort of places, as they were typically fast food, burgers and non-gluten-free. But this doesn’t matter, as after the Olympics, it’ll be next to one of the biggest parks in Europe, so you’ll go to Marks or Waitrose and buy a picnic.
There were a few teething problems, one of which was the lack of signs to the trains in the centre, but it is infinitely better than the rather tired Lakeside and Oxford Street.
I was impressed too, that the General Manager of London Underground was there talking to travellers. Bosses should do this more often.
The Anonymous Widower 
The big JL and big Waitrose sounds good. I have two JL near me, 3 if you include the city centre. One is 5 or 6 minutes, one is 12ish minutes, city centre depends on time of day – I am unable to travel by rail and have to drive in
Comment by liz | September 14, 2011 |
I have a feeling that it might be easier than Lakeside or Bluewater for those in wheelchairs or scooters. If I was such, I’d just get to Canonbury and then take the North London Line to Stratford. It would be step free all the way to the shops. It would take about twenty minutes door-to-door. Using train and bus took me fifteen with a walk at Hackney.
Comment by AnonW | September 14, 2011 |
It looked Great on TV . . . will this be an easier & more enjoyable centre ?
Comment by Steam Lover | September 14, 2011 |
It’ll be a great place to go to see products before you buy them over the Internet. It must also be one of the few shopping centres in the world built on a very large railway exchange. It also has connections to Europe, if they care to get the trains to stop there. Unfortunately, Eurostar don’t want to allow competition.
When the Olympics is over, it will also be next to one of the biggest urban parks in Europe, with lots of canals and rivers.
They are going to make tonnes of money. They’d earn a lot more if they followed the locals and called it Eastfield.
Comment by AnonW | September 15, 2011 |
I tend to use the Trafford Centre where pretty much everything is flat and easy to scoot on – some surfaces arent very good.
Comment by liz | September 15, 2011 |