Minute44 - Dan Schonhaar

It’s cost about £340,000,000 (yes that’s three hundred and forty million pounds) and has turned the centre of Derby into the most dangerous driving area outside of Iraq but on Tuesday the new Westfield Shopping Centre opened it’s doors to the public.

I’d heard rumours like “As big as Meadowhall” from a very early stage and, having friends who live in Derby, I got to see the progress of the build quite often. Truth be told I couldn’t see it being anywhere near the size of meadowhall. There simply wasn’t enough room in the centre of Derby…. I was kinda wrong. I finally went on the Saturday (Yep, clever Dan decided to go on the very first Saturday it was open) and after going on a tour of the city trying to find the parking I went in. I was in shock and awe for the first 20 minutes I was there. This place is seriously huge and about as modern a building as I have ever been in.

Where we ended up first was the food court which had the feel of a busy urban centre populated by individual street vendors, Asian style. Surprisingly the only outlet I recognised in there was KFC. This was a refreshing change from the chav-haven foodcourt of a certain Sheffield based mega-centre It too was ultra-modern and the faux hardwood latticework that made up the roof was awe-inspiring I found myself gawking upwards like a turkey in a rainstorm for a good few minutes at it.

I had some noodles from the Thai noodle bar which, while rather expensive, were pretty tasty. I could have chosen, other than the noodles and KFC, Specialty pies, Indian, shish kebabs, sandwiches, salads, Chinese food and a couple of others. There are outlets for mid-mall snacking too with, my personal favourite, Gloria Jean’s Coffees getting it’s second UK location (the first being McArthur Glen).

The future is bright for Westfield, good job too when just building a centre puts you £340 million in the hole. There’s a 12 screen cinema to come and they are, roumour has it, in talks to get an outlet of Wagamama -See source- to join Pizza Express and Nando’s in the Restaurant area. I’d be happy if they got it!

Shops are standard as far as shopping centres go but smaller, alternative shops are shut out by huge rents (upwards of £20,000 a year) for even the very small outlets. Jewellery shops, perfume shops and primarily clothes shops. Big names like Debenhams and M&S take their usual place as the biggest outlets in the centre.

What I found most interesting about the new centre is it’s integration into the existing Eagle Centre. It means that while it will have a very palpable impact on the city centre, it doesn’t segregate itself from it. This means that it’s impact on the trade of other areas of the city will not be so extreme as shoppers can easily and maybe even accidentally venture out of the centre into other areas of the city.

There’s plenty of parking and even on what will be the busiest Saturday before Christmas I managed to find a space in the 2000 capacity Westfield Rooftop car park.

My biggest complaint is the lack of any cash machines in the main centre. I had to venture outside the centre to withdraw some cash and then, because of the extra volume of people, had to queue for 10 minutes to use a machine. None of the food vendors take debit cards as of yet either and nor do the car park pay stations. These alone ensure your need to carry cash and as such venture outside if you don’t have any on you before you arrive.

Although to all intents and purposes the centre isn’t yet fully finished, it’s still bloody impressive and you can see where all the money was spent and why it’s taken years to get to this stage. I say go and check it out but go one Thursday or Friday evening (or better in the day time on a weekday) when it will be less busy and it will be more relaxed.