Complete Guide to Westfield Shepherd's Bush

Complete Guide to Westfield Shepherd's Bush

Westfield Shepherd’s Bush shopping centre was developed by the Westfield Group. Because the site is bordered by the A3220, A40 and A219, the centre’s transport links are excellent. It opened in late October 2008 and quickly became the biggest covered shopping centre in London. Ten years later it remains a world-famous shopping destination for locals and visitors.

You want it, you’ll probably find it here. There are fantastic hand-crafted cocktails, karaoke booths, bowling and a gorgeous heated terrace at All Star Lanes, brilliant fun for all the family. Puttshack at Westfield is the contemporary version of mini-golfing, a completely different way to play miniature golf. The Japanese marketplace, Ichiba, is home to literally thousands of exciting Japanese products including food, sweets, sake, sushi, noodles, curry and even Japanese street food, gifts and homewares. Oh, and a cafe and bakery!

John Lewis & Partners have a huge presence at Westfield, it is the first London John Lewis to open a Loved&Found boutique for contemporary fashion brands. Westfield’s constant expansion means new retail outlets are arriving all the time, including River Island, Zara, H&M, Levi’s, Lululemon and Topshop. Nike, Jack Wills, Urban Decay, Urban Outfitters, Primark and Pandora are all there for the taking.

If you’re gearing up for a shop-til-you-drop visit, why not stay conveniently close to Westfield and make your life easier? We have two hotels near Westfield Shepherds Bush. You’ll find an excellent value easyHotel at Paddington and another at South Kensington.

History and Trivia on Westfield White City

• You can probably buy everything you could possibly ever need at Westfield. Seriously!
• Westfield was 10 years old in 2018, and has grown into a world-class one-stop shop for shopping
• The site extends for a massive 43 acres
• The shopping centre itself is a whopper at 1.6 million square feet
• It cost an estimated £1.7 billion to build
• It took 13 million man-hours to build and employed 8000 workers to build it
• In 2018 alone the shopping centre welcomed more than 50 million people
• The area now called White City used to be farmland until 1908
• In 1908 the site was used for the Franco-British Exhibition and the 1908 Summer Olympics
• The White City Stadium, also called the Great Stadium, seated 66,000 and was officially opened by King Edward VII in 1908
• The 1908 Olympics are commemorated by a list of athletes – it’s displayed on the side of the BBC Broadcast Centre Building
• During 1909 the site was home to the Imperial International Exhibition
• 1910 saw it hosting the Japan-British Exhibition
• In 1912 there was a Latin-British Exhibition here, and in 1914 the Anglo-American Exhibition took place, cut short by the start of the First World War
• During WW1 the area was called the Great White City thanks to the white marble cladding used on the exhibition pavilions
• A five-storey housing estate was built on the site in the late 1930s to house the area’s growing population, also called White City
• White City is home to the BBC Television Centre, White City Place and the QPR football team
• Imperial College London bought the BBC’s Woodlands site in 2009 for £28 million then tore the building down in 2010
• The Who’s Pete Townshend used to live in Shepherd’s Bush. In 1985 he made a solo album called White City: A Novel

Visitor Information

Westfield Shepherd’s Bush Opening times

Westfield Shepherds Bush opening hours are 10am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and noon to 6pm on Sundays.

Vue Cinema at Westfield Shepherd’s Bush

The Westfield Shepherds Bush cinema is called Vue, a state-of-the-art multiplex facility. It seats almost 3000 people and offers a total of twenty different screens. As you can imagine they show a large range of different movies, some for children and others for adults. You’ll enjoy Sony 4K picture quality and Dolby surround-sound. There’s a bar to relax in, the Scene Bar, and they even hold events there.

KidZania

KidZania is billed as an indoor city run by kids. Your children choose from a number of cool real-life activities, all of which take place in a safe space where you can leave them while you shop. It’s designed for kids aged 4-14 and all the games they play mix learning and reality with fun, everything from playing doctor, dentist or police officer to firefighter, actor or dancer.

There’s much more, though. The games they play earn kidZos, a kind of money, which they can then spend having even more fun, doing great things like climbing in the special Climbing Building. Once your child earns 75 kidZos they can open a bank account and get their own bank card. They’ll want to stay all day!

Restaurants and Bars in Westfield Shepherd’s Bush

There are too many good Westfield Shepherd’s Bush restaurants to mention, and that means there’s no real need to leave the centre unless you want to. Mandaloun at 1 Ariel Way is a modern eatery serving food with a Lebanese influence. The Meat Co Westfield is a popular steakhouse with a brilliant choice of wines and a smart bar area. There’s a Yo Sushi, a Bill’s, a Wagamama, and The Real Greek on Ariel Way serves hot and cold mezze in a calm, casual atmosphere. If you love Thai food head for Busaba Westfield at Southern Terrace.

Pubs and bars at Westfield shopping centre include The Bull at 1033 Westfield Way, the Central Bar at W12 shopping centre, the Defectors Weld at 170 Uxbridge Road and the Ping Pong Shepherd’s Bush at Southern Terrace.

How to get to Westfield Shepherd’s Bush

Walking – Have you considered walking to Westfield? It’s actually surprisingly central, a mere 3.3 miles from Kensington, an hour’s walk, and just over four miles from Hammersmith. Grab an A to Z or download a London walking app and enjoy the exercise, sights and sounds of the capital up close and intimate.

Underground – Wood Lane underground is nearby, as is the Shepherd’s Bush Market tube station, White City tube and Shepherd’s Bush.

Bus – The 31, 49, 148, 207, 237, 260, 607 and C1 buses stop at White City bus station and the 72, 94, 95, 220, 272, 283, 295 and N207 all stop at Shepherd’s Bush.

Train – Shepherd’s Bush mainline railway station connects to Willesden Junction, Kensington Olympia, West Brompton and Clapham Junction with trains every 15 minutes in both directions from Monday to Saturday and one or two an hour on Sundays.