Twenty years on - The Glades, Bromley
Published: 10 February, 2011
A £20m refurbishment by Capital Shopping Centres has helped the Bromley centre stand the test of time. And now it’s poised to thrive over the next 20 years
The 421,000-sq ft Glades shopping centre in Bromley was opened by comedian Roy Hudd on October 22 1991 and was featured in Shopping Centre’s November issue under the headline ‘Relatively quiet at Bromley’.
The £200m mall – developed by Capital & Counties – opened with just 12 of its 125 units trading, although letting agents Connell Wilson, Lunson Mitchenall and Strutt & Parker expected 70 retailers to be trading by the end of the following month.
Construction of the scheme, which included a 1,400-space car park and a 330-seat foodhall, began in 1988.
It was designed by architects Chapman Taylor Partners who dividing the centre into several distinct zones including two glass-atrium covered main malls, the Regent Arcade for speciality shopping (modelled on London’s Burlington Arcade) and a mezzanine level foodhall.
The architects worked around a ‘natural world theme’ incorporating, among other things, brass frogs and mice into the balustrades.
At the time of opening the shopping centre was anchored by Marks & Spencer – one of its largest UK stores at 150,000 sq ft – Debenhams at 90,000 sq ft, Boots at 38,000 sq ft and Littlewoods.
Now units are taken up by retailers New Look, H&M, Swag, Jack & Jones, Republic, French Connection, Disney Store, Massimo Dutti, Kurt Geiger and Waterstone’s.
In early 2006 CSC embarked on a £20m remodeling and extension of the southern end of the mall, including a new anchor unit and a further five shop units.
The work, which added 38,000 sq ft to the scheme, was completed in August 2008.
Howard Oldstein joined the centre as general manager in 2006. “Since then the whole ethos of the town has changed,” he says. “We’ve looked to bring in retailers that we think our customers would really enjoy and the centre’s grown in terms of appeal.”
And what of the future? “We want to continue to build on the emphasis The Glades has on Bromley town as a retail business and to continue with our community commitments and our work with the council.
“We’ve formed a solid platform over the last 20 years and we want to develop that over the next 20 and continue to improve as we always try to do.”
