page_title: Lakeside Shopping Centre
section_title: New developments
hierarchical_section_title: Lakeside Shopping Centre / New developments
caption_attribution_description: English: The Boardwalk on opening day (14 June 2007). Picture taken from Old Orleans. Restaurants from left to right: Gourmet Burger Kitchen, La Tasca, Wagamama, Strada, Nandos, Giraffe. Part of Bella Italia can be seen on the balcony top right. Cafe Rouge sits just underneath Bella Italia. Looking at this picture, Spur Steak House is located to the left of Gourmet Burger Kitchen and was not open on 14 June - work was continuing on this site.
context_page_description: Lakeside Shopping Centre, branded as Intu Lakeside, is a large out-of-town shopping centre located in West Thurrock, in the borough of Thurrock, Essex just beyond the eastern boundary of Greater London. It was constructed on the site of a former chalk quarry. The first tenants moved into the complex in 1988 and it was completed in 1990, being opened on 25 October of that year by Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, Marcus Bradford and Angus Ogilvy. New spaces in the red car park were added as recently as October 2019.
  The shopping centre, in addition to the retail parks, forms one of the largest shopping areas in a single location within Europe, with almost 2,600,000 square feet of retail space on a site of 200 acres. The community of Chafford Hundred has grown to the east of the centre since its opening. Its main rival is the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Greenhithe, Kent, just across the River Thames.
  The centre was rebranded as "intu Lakeside" in 2013 following the renaming of parent Capital Shopping Centres Group plc as "intu properties plc".
context_section_description: To ensure the centre maintains its competition with the newer (and what is perceived by some as more 'upmarket') Bluewater shopping centre, which lies just over the Thames in Greenhithe, Lakeside had a £30 million refurbishment in 2004. This included new Italian porcelain flooring, new lighting, a new ceiling and new glass roofs which allow much more natural light into the shopping centre. There are now also new, faster lifts, and four more escalators, along with automatic entrance doors. The refurbishment has also encouraged refitting of many shops so that they complement the new surroundings. In September 2005, Next opened an 18,600 sq ft (1,730 m²). extension to its store.
  The Lakeside Pavilion, a market area adjoining the main shopping centre via a covered bridge, was closed in 2006 for refurbishment, re-opening in June 2007 as 'The Boardwalk'.
  The Boardwalk provides an additional 59,000 sq ft (5,500 m²). of retail space for eleven new restaurants along with more retail and leisure space, as well as a 10-metre boardwalk, offering external seating overlooking Alexandra Lake. The Old Orleans bar and restaurant boat was also refurbished and re-opened on the same day, with new features including a rooftop bar.
  Vue cinema formed part of the old Lakeside Pavilion, with a seven screen cinema. This closed on 11 January 2007 to be refurbished, and was re-opened on Friday 15 June 2007; the refurbishment resulted in nine state-of-the-art screens with stadium seating. 'Gold Class', a premium screen that housed luxury seating, has since been abandoned in favour of VIP seating sections in every screen. The 'Evolution Screen', with a combination of giant bean bag chairs amongst VIP seating, was the first of its kind in the UK.
  Apple opened  its tenth UK store at Lakeside Shopping Centre.
  Marks & Spencer, one of the centre's four anchor stores, applied for planning permission in July 2008 to allow construction of a 23,970 sq ft (2,230 m²) third storey extension to their store, in addition to an extensive refurbishment of the store layout and customer facilities. The application was approved at the end of October 2008 although no construction has taken place as of July 2011.
  Supergroup, owners of the Cult and Superdry brands opened its largest-ever store at the centre in July 2010, in the unit previously occupied by Woolworths. Ed's Easy Diner also opened their fifth restaurant in the centre's food court in July 2010.
  Taco Bell re-entered the UK market in June 2010 with the opening of its first stores at intu Lakeside.
  On 8 December 2012, US fashion giant Forever 21 opened a 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m²) flagship store at intu Lakeside, in a three-floor unit. In July 2016 this store closed down.
  Intu Lakeside was granted permission in 2012 to extend to include 30-40 new stores, a new footbridge across the Alexandra Lake to the Lakeside Retail Park, a new leisure area, a new 80 bed Travelodge hotel overlooking the river and a brand new transport hub where the current railway station bridge is to allow easier interchange. The new 225,000 sq ft leisure area was completed in early 2019 and will include a Nickelodeon-branded entertainment centre.
caption: 'The Boardwalk' on opening day - 14 June 2007.
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