London’s best shopping centres

Westfield London is big. Taking up a whopping 43 acres across nine postcodes on the site of the 1908 Olympics, and costing roughly £1.6 billion to build, the White City landmark is home to no fewer than 450 shops and over 80 places to eat and drink.

But there’s so much more to do besides just shopping; food-wise you’ve got brunch spots, fast food faves, while the entertainment offering runs the gamut from a Vue Cinema and a Gamebox to bouldering, golf and the UK’s largest immersive venue, Wake The Tiger’s Dream Factory. There’s something for everyone, basically. 

Opening times: Mon-Sat, 10am-9pm; Sun 12pm-6pm.

Ariel Way, W12 7GF.

A Grade II-listed Art Deco masterpiece and Europe’s largest brick building, Battersea Power Station reopened in 2022, having been transformed into a feast of dining, drinking and shopping after a £1.28 billion renovation. The 40-acre site is now a mecca for shopping, eating, drinking and generally having a good time, boasting over 170 retailers and entertainment venues while retaining the art deco and brutalist features that make the former power plant such an iconic feature of the London skyline. 

Opening times: Mon-Sat, 10am-8pm; Sun 12pm-

It’s easy to think of Canary Wharf as all suits and skyscrapers, but underneath those glass towers sits one of London’s biggest shopping destinations. There are more than 320 shops and over 80 cafés, bars and restaurants, spread across five connected malls, Cabot Place, Canada Place, Churchill Place, Crossrail Place and Jubilee Place, so you can easily spend a day here without ever needing an umbrella.

Opening times: Mon-Fri, 9am-8pm; Sat, 10am-7pm; Sun, 12pm-6pm.

Canada Place, E14 5EW

Once home to a depot for processing coal arriving by train from the north, this former industrial wasteland adjacent to King’s Cross station now boasts 100,000 square feet of swanky retail and dining space, featuring a striking roof extension designed by Thomas Heatherwick. Alongside familiar brands like Aesop, Cos, Paul Smith and Earl of East, you’ll find plenty of hip new ones to obsess over, such as Parisian womenswear label ba&sh and raw denim outfitters Blackhorse Lane Atelier, while the 40-odd eateries include trusty tapas restaurant Barrafina, cult Sri Lankan spot Hoppers and trend-setting Taiwanese restaurant BAO.

Opening times: Mon-Sat 11am-7pm; Sun 11am-5pm. 

Stable Street, King’s Cross, N1C 4AB

Billed as a ‘city within a city’ when it opened in September 2011, Westfield Stratford City was the £1.45 billion gateway to the London 2012 Olympics, and it’s still one of the biggest shopping centres in the country. It sits right next to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and is home to more than 300 brands, anchored by huge branches of John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, plus a 20-screen Vue cinema, the UK’s biggest All Star Lanes bowling alley, and London’s largest casino, run by Aspers.

Opening times: Mon-Fri, 10am-9pm; Sat, 9am-9pm; Sun, 12pm-6pm.

Great Eastern Road, E20

When Brent Cross opened in March 1976, plenty of people thought an indoor mall would never catch on in Britain. Fifty years later, the UK’s first big enclosed shopping centre is still going, and north Londoners are as loyal as ever. John Lewis, Fenwick and M&S anchor things, with a dependable spread of high street names in between. It’s the kind of place you go when you need a new duvet, a pair of trainers and a birthday present for your mum in one trip, without trekking into the West End.

Opening times: Mon-Sat, 10am-8pm; Sun, 11am-6pm.

Prince Charles Drive, NW4 3FP

One of London’s first department stores, The Whiteley reopened in 2025 after a top-to-toe restoration taking the best part of a decade. Restored to its former glory, it’s now home to the first UK outpost for wellness-focused hotel brand Six Senses which takes up a whole quarter of the building. You don’t need to be staying, though, as the ground and lower floors are now home to a handpicked mix of eateries, shops and entertainment venues, including swanky gyms like 1Rebel and Psycle, fashion brands such as A.P.C., Reformation and American Vintage and an Everyman Cinema. 

Opening times: Mon-Sat, 9am-7pm; Sun, 10.30am-4.30pm.

151 Queensway, W2 4YN

It’s just across Long Acre from Covent Garden station, but St Martin’s Courtyard feels miles from the street performers and selfie sticks. This pretty, pedestrianised pocket is lined with flower-draped walkways, terraces and smart shops. It’s now the heart of The Yards, a cluster of courtyards and backstreets that also takes in Slingsby Place, Mercer Walk and Neal Street, and it’s one of the nicer ways to do Covent Garden without the crush.

Opening times: Mon-Sat, 9am-11pm; Sun, 9am-10pm.

25 Slingsby Place, WC2H 9AB

Built in 1819 by Lord Cavendish to provide ‘industrious females’ with employment, and to stop people throwing oyster shells into the garden of Burlington House, Burlington Arcade is the grandest in London, and features more than 40 luxury and independent ‘boutiques’ spanning fashion, jewellery, perfumes and edible treats. It’s the place to go if you fancy dropping 30k on a vintage Rolex, with half a dozen specialist stores dealing in rare and vintage timepieces. Or for a more budget-friendly treat, have the resident shoe-shine boy work his magic with waxes and creams for £9 a pop. Suits you, guv’nor!

Opening times: Mon-Fri, 8am-7pm; Sat 9am-7pm; Sun 11am-6pm.

51 Piccadilly, W1J 0QL

Directly across the road from St Paul’s Cathedral, One New Change is a glass-clad complex of shops, restaurants and offices designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. It opened in October 2010, and its covered passageways cut right through the block, linking Cheapside with the streets around it. Fashion-wise, you’ll find the likes of Boss, Cos and Hackett, plus Ted’s Grooming Room if you need a trim. Food-wise, Gordon Ramsay has a big presence, with branches of his Bread Street and Street Pizza concepts.

Opening times: Mon-Fri, 10am-7pm; Sat, 10am-6pm; Sun, 12pm-6pm.

New Change Road, EC4M 9AF

There are more than 30 shops at this spot on Chelsea’s King’s Road. It has one of the largest Zara’s in Europe, and beyond that, there’s Reformation, Self-Portrait, A.P.C. and Joseph for clothes, Monica Vinader for jewellery and Soho Home Studio for interiors you’ll want to recreate at home. Beauty lovers are well looked after too, with Aesop, Space NK, Jo Malone, Penhaligon’s, Trinny London and a Dermalogica flagship all in one place. Don’t skip Taschen either, which is still one of the best place in west London to lose an hour among the coffee table books.

Opening times: Mon-Wed and Fri, 10am-7pm; Thurs, 10am-8pm; Sat, 10am-6pm; Sun, 12pm-6pm.

80 King’s Road, SW3 4LY

Blink and you’ll walk straight past it. Tucked behind Carnaby Street, Kingly Court is a three-storey courtyard stacked with around 20 restaurants and bars, and it’s one of the easiest ways to feed a group in Soho without anyone sulking. Downstairs, tables spill out into the open-air courtyard, and the floors above are lined with everything from Hakata ramen at Shoryu to Peruvian ceviche and pisco sours at Señor Ceviche.

Opening times: Mon-Sun, 6am-11pm.

Carnaby Street, (opposite Broadwick Street), W1B 5PW

Love it or loathe it, you can’t miss it. The Brunswick is Bloomsbury’s great concrete ziggurat, a stepped block of flats stacked above a long, open-air street of shops, cafés and restaurants, a couple of minutes from Russell Square station. It went up between 1967 and 1972 to designs by architect Patrick Hodgkinson and was Grade II listed in 2000. A big refurbishment finished in 2006, and finally gave it the cream paintwork Hodgkinson had wanted all along, a nod to the Georgian terraces around it.

Opening times: Mon-Sun, 7am–11pm.

Hunter Street, Bernard Street & Marchmont Street, WC1N 1BS

This is a place for everyday shopping, with Primark, H&M, TK Maxx, River Island, JD Sports, Boots, Argos and a Lidl all under one roof, plus a Cineworld and a PureGym. The real character is in the Market Hall, where dozens of independent traders sell everything from beads and craft materials to phones and electricals, hair and beauty products, and quick bites.

Opening times: Mon-Sat, 9am-7pm; Sun, 11am-5pm.

59 High Road, Wood Green, N22 6YQ

Boxpark was only ever supposed to be temporary. In 2011 someone had the bright idea of stacking a load of old shipping containers under Shoreditch High Street station and billing it as the world’s first pop-up mall. There are over 250 independent brands that have traded here, and after one eviction notice and a furious ‘save Boxpark’ campaign, the containers are going nowhere. They’ve even had babies, with spin-offs in Croydon, Wembley, Camden and Liverpool.

Opening times: Mon-Thurs, 11am-11pm; Fri-Sat, 11am-11.45pm; Sun, 11am-10.30pm.

2-10 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6GY.