The 'city within a city', Westfield's £1.45 billion retail behemoth snakes through the Olympic site, with over 250 retail units – the cornerstones of which are gigantic versions of High Street brands John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose – 80 restaurants, bars and cafés, and a 17-screen digital cinema. So far, mega-mall, but Westfield Stratford City has attempted to be lead a little by its east London neighbours, looking inwards to the creative hubs of Shoreditch and Hoxton (rather than outwards to Romford and Billericay).
It launched with projects such as Studio East – an industry panel that included Roland Mouret, Tracey Emin, Tom Dixon and Erin O'Connor – and gave opportunities to young British creatives, awarding them opportunities to create uniforms, lighting systems, public art and environmental projects for the Westfield Stratford City site. A fresh food market, The Great Eastern Market is a hub for small, independent producers enjoying a guaranteed customer-base. Westfield projected a phenomenal footfall of 10 million during the Olympics in 2012 – in a stroke of planning genius, the route to the former Olympic Stadium passes right through the centre of Stratford City. Footfall has now reached 47 million FYI.