Bluewater
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 in 1999 and is connected by shuttle bus to Greenhithe railway station.
The centre covers an area of 154,000 sq. metres (1.6m sq. ft.) and claims to be the largest centre in the United Kingdom. It was built on a former chalk quarry and is jointly owned by four major UK institutions, Prudential (35%), Lend Lease Europe Ltd (30%), the Lend Lease Retail Partnership (25%) and Hermes (10%).
The centre is in a triangle shape on two levels with a large department store at each corner. These being House of Fraser, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. There are 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.
Bluewater is in direct competition with Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock on the other side of the Thames and positions itself as a more upmarket proposition and alternative to London's West End.
Aside from retail, its recreational facilities include Land Rover Adventure Zone, Nestlé All Stars Active Zone, The Blue Rock Climbing Wall, The Timberland Discovery Trail, Fishing, Golf Pro Tour Putting, Cycles and Tandems, Boating, Showcase Cinemas, and Molton Brown Day Spa.
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