Shopping survey reveals UK’s best (and worst) retail locations

Westfield shopping centre in London has once again been named as the UK’s leading shopping centre by Venuescore, Javelin Group’s annual survey ranking the UK’s top 2,000+ retail venues including town centres, standalone malls, retail warehouse parks and factory outlet centres.

Trumping Bluewater in Greenhithe and Meadowhall in Sheffield for the honour, Westfield was ranked in pole position due to its quantity and variety of retailer representation. Westfield’s newest shopping centre in Stratford City debuted in sixth position.

Venuescore also rated the top shopping venues in the UK, with London’s West End emerging as the best in terms of its retail offering and separate number of venues, whilst London also scooped the award for being the most dominant city centre overall. Glasgow was adjudged to be runner-up, and Manchester was placed third.

Glasgow can, however, lay claim to the best retail park in the UK, with its Fort Shopping Park the leading destination in this category. Meanwhile, the Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet in Ellesmere Port was deemed to be the best factory outlet centre, by a considerable margin. Birmingham was found to be the most ‘mall dominated’, closely followed by Cardiff and Aberdeen.

At the opposite end of the scale, Salford, Bootle and Accrington were announced as the most downmarket shopping destinations, in terms of market position.