🛍️ Bluewater Shopping Centre

Bluewater Shopping Centre is a large out-of-town shopping centre, located just outside Dartford, Kent, and accessible from the M25 motorway and A2. Opened on 16 March 1999 in a former chalk quarry after ten years of building works, the site occupies 240 acres (97 ha) and has a sales floor area of 154,000 m2 (1,600,000 ft2) over three levels, making it the fifth-largest shopping centre in the UK. Elsewhere in Europe only Istanbul's Cevahir Mall and Vienna's (Vösendorf) Shopping City Süd are bigger. The floor plan is a triangular shape with 210 stores, including three anchors, 50 cafés and restaurants, and a 17-screen cinema. The centre employs 7,000 people and serves over 28 million visitors a year. A main rival is the Lakeside Shopping Centre and its two retail parks in West Thurrock, Essex, just across the River Thames, 8 miles (13 km) away by road or 3.2 miles (5.1 km) as the crow flies.