If you’re looking to get all your Christmas shopping done in one fell swoop, your best bet (apart from internet shopping, obvs) is probably submitting yourself to a day at a mammoth shopping centre. Filled with household-name brands and pretty much every kind of good you can think of, shopping centres have something for everyone.
And the UK has plenty of shopping centres – wherever you are, you’re never usually too far from some kind of mega-mall. But which British shopping centres are the best to visit this Christmas? To find out, car retailer cinch has ranked shopping centres based on stuff like size, number of shops and restaurants and number of parking spaces.
Top of cinch’s study came Bluewater in Kent, largely thanks to its massive car park. Sitting just outside the M25, Bluewater opened in 1999 and is the fifth-largest shopping centre in the UK. It’s got a whopping 260 stores and services.
Next in the list came Meadowhall in Sheffield, followed by Metrocentre in Gateshead.
These are the top ten shopping centres in the UK, according to cinch.
- Bluewater (Kent)
- Meadowhall (Sheffield)
- Metrocentre (Gateshead)
- Lakeside Shopping Centre (Essex)
- Trafford Centre (Manchester)
- Merry Hill (Dudley)
- Westfield London (London)
- Westfield Stratford City (London)
- Braehead (Renfrew)
- centre:mk (Milton Keynes)
You can read more about cinch’s ranking here.
Time Out and Christmas shopping
Prefer your Christmas shopping a little more atmospheric, with more independent retailers? We’ve got you covered. Check out our guides to the best Christmas shops in London, the finest places for Christmas shopping in the UK and the prettiest towns for festive shopping.
Did you see that Coca-Cola’s iconic Christmas truck tour is returning to the UK for Christmas 2023?
Plus: Beyond Meat pepperoni is now available on Pizza Hut pizzas across the UK.
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