Are You Bold Enough to Go Bouldering at Westfield?
Climbing without ropes and 'social' cricket added to its leisure experiences
City Bouldering and Puttshack in Westfield
Westfield is expanding its ‘leisure experiences’ this summer, alongside its range of over 400 shops and restaurants.
The latest additions are City Bouldering, which offers wall climbing without ropes or harnesses and ‘social entertainment cricket concept’ Sixes Cricket, which opens at the end of June, promising the opportunity to eat, brink and bat, testing cricket skills either using real nets or virtual reality. This chain already has a venue in Fulham’s Farm Lane.
The Shepherd’s Bush shopping centre says these newcomers are opening in response to the rise in ‘competitive socialising’, further expanding the entertainment available at the centre, which already includes indoor mini-golf centre Puttshack and All Star Lanes bowling venue.
Katie Wyle, General Manager at Westfield London says: “Experience is at the heart of our offer, and we are passionate about introducing new and unexpected concepts to our visitors. The new openings and upsized concepts meet the growing consumer demand for interactive leisure and entertainment.”
These new developments are following a pattern which was predicted two years ago in a report produced by the centre’s owners Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, or URW, called Westfield How We Shop: The Next Decade. It hailed the coming of 'Upside Down Retail', seeing a drastic change in people's shopping habits with 'experiences' in stores and malls taking over from simply shopping or dining.
All Star Lanes bowling was already part of the leisure offering
A survey of consumers across Europe undertaken for the report found that almost two thirds expected the ‘tipping point’, with more than half of retail space dedicated to experience rather than sales to be reached by 2025, while three quarters expected it to happen by 2027.
Westfield London. of course, already has long established leisure spaces including its Vue Cinema and children’s centre Kidzania and its outdoor attraction the Upside Down House.
The centre’s stores also offer a choice of services, including gyms, hairdressers, banks, massage and beauty salons, brow and nail bars, a vitamin drip centre and a dog hotel.
There is also a programme of events to draw in customers, with current highlights including a Royal Scavenger Hunt for kids at Hamleys, on daily till 12 June, an instore party hosted by Lush from 28 May till 4 June and a Drag Brunch, which sees John Lewis celebrating 50 years of PRIDE with an afternoon of entertainment and bubbles on Saturday 11 June.
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May 23, 2022