Europe’s biggest inner-city shopping mall to create 7,000 jobs despite tough trading conditions.
Customers were out in force to catch the opening of the Westfield London Centre today.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson officially opened the 43-acre site, which boasts 265 stores, including House of Fraser, Debenhams, Marks and Spencer and Habitat, as well as 50 cafes and restaurants.

Addressing visitors to the shopping centre in Shepherds Bush, he said: "I was asked on my way in this morning by a reporter whether this was the right time in these dark days of austerity to be opening a shopping centre as big as 30 football pitches and Buckingham Palace."

He replied that it was' one of the silliest questions' he'd ever been asked, adding: "Let me ask you the question, with unemployment rising in the UK, is it right that Westfield make an investment of £1.6bn an create 7,000 jobs?"

Westfield bosses estimate that 21 million people will visit the centre, which took 13 million hours to build and spans nine postcodes, each year.