More details emerge about Greenwich’s o2 Icon Shopping Centre – opening times, shops and restaurants
With less than a month to go until the 85-shop Icon outlet shopping centre in the o2 opens, more details of what’s in store have been revealed.
In addition to shops recently announced and covered here, the centre will open on October 20th at 10am. Opening times from Monday to Wednesday with then be 10am to 8pm, 10am to 10pm from Thursday to Saturday and Sunday is midday to 6pm.
Shops at the centre include Levis, Clarks Outlet, Gap, G-Star, Hobbs and Yankee Candle, amongst many more with some yet to be announced.
Restaurants and cafes include Gaucho, Gentleman Baristas and Busaba Eathai. Mind you I thought one of those went into administration and others already there. Perhaps the info isn’t too reliable, and they think the cinema in the o2 is Odeon (it’s Cineworld).
Some have questioned how this will all work with the bag checking policy at the o2. There may not be much else in terms of shops in the immediate area, but a new market and design district is currently under construction.
And what of people wanting to pop in on their way home from work with bags?
They are advertising a bag drop for £10 though I’m not sure how well that will go down.
Visitor numbers are predicted by the o2s owners to be in the millions. How that will work if people are checked on arrival will be interesting. Long queues will put many off. It’s bad enough at concert time currently.
After shopping, customers can also leave their bags for £5 whilst they go elsewhere in the o2, perhaps to a gig or Cineworld, which is also being expanded.
Only around half the retail units will be ready by opening with more expected to open throughout 2018 and into 2019.
For prospective shoppers, they’ll get to enjoy those car, bus and underground queues. The bus station is often at, or over, capacity. There’s been no movement at all on the new transport interchange since it was announced in February 2017. No consultations. No planning application.
Rail isn’t listed as an option on the o2’s website, which is odd as that’s my chosen method (at least for gigs) learnt through bitter experience. Sure, it’s a 20 minute walk to the nearest Southeastern station but it beats very slow queues and scrums.
I’m clearly not expecting people splashing out £££ at shops to walk 20 mins, and this is more a general ponder about the o2. If even a minority were encouraged to walk after a gig, the long queues would alleviate slightly.
Anyway, it’ll be fun to watch the crowds converge and depart on a gig night, with shoppers heading that way as well as people to the expanded cinema. Will the bag search policy and transport cope without a ton of frustrated visitors?
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I don’t forsee this as becoming the Bicester replacement it is supposed to be at any time in the near future. If anything they’re re-creating the duty free experience at Terminal 3. All they need is to turn off the air-conditioning in the summer and the international traveller will feel right at home
@Charles Calthrop: me neither. Bicester has two stations and you can also get their by bus from Oxford City Centre.
I think that you are being very negative here. Living in Greenwich I can tell you that it will be a big relief for locals to have shops at 02. I would expect the Greenwich population to go shopping there. In this case that would not have affect much on the tube. I think that what they are planning is something that was really missing in North Greenwich.
Not at all – it’s great to bring more choice and use the empty parts of the o2. I’m all for things in the area like the new 4,400 music venue, this centre, more restaurants and bars (the market particularly looks great) etc. The only issue I raise is ensuring infrastructure keeps pace, and particularly sustainable ways to reach sites such as walking and cycle routes alongside public transport capacity.
The centre is planned as appealing on both a local and regional basis – so bus, car etc for local people (at the same time buses being cut) as well as regionally so more tube passengers (with tube upgrades recently stopped).
Not that any of it is easy to solve as ownership and responsibility fragmented. Tube cuts are due to TfL cuts from central Government alongside fare freeze. Poor local pedestrian routes and increased traffic is down to Greenwich Council, planning policy and lack of focus on public realm.
I think the shopping area is a good idea, but I think in reality commuters, very local residents (ie North Greenwich) and some people who go to the restaurants will me the main people who would go there to shop.
The reality is that the o2 is a bit out of the way to get any natural footfall (you wouldn’t want to walk it to the o2)
You wouldn’t want to drive there (parking is extortionate), and would people pay to take public transport when you go to an alternative shopping centre with many more shops?
The charge for holding large bags is just a money generating rip-off and will also put off many potential customers (what if you wanted to return back a large bags of items?).
So how will parking work ?, if you can be in there until 10pm, cant see anyone paying the £35 it costs to park for a concert but how will they check your going to a concert of shopping ?
The announced shops are pretty uninspiring. I hope there are better things to come.
The 02 Shopping Centre is very close to North Greenwich Station and the Jubilee Line so has many commuters in the area as well as a growing local population with many new developments under construction.
People will also be travelling to the area to use the new Ikea Store on the Greenwich Peninsula. If customers want to leave their cars in the shops car park used for B&Q Ikea and the Film World cinema.
The 02 is only a short bus journey away from Ikea and will be served by 7 bus routes when route 180 is also diverted to serve the area next year. (Routes 108 129 132 161 180 472 and 486).
So this could become a successful shopping centre.
Ikea wont allow that, people could spend hours in the O2 shopping and eating, this would impact on their numbers and make it look like traffic is being caused by people coming to Ikea which is the last thing they need after all the resistance to them opening the store and as contrary to what they say, most people will come to Ikea by car (try carrying a billy bookcase home on the bus or tube!) they will need the parking for their own customers so parking enforcement will be in place you see. Same goes for Odeon, Pizza hut and Nandos, if people cant park they wont go and eat there or watch a film so they wont be having any of that.
Parking at the O2 will be the only option and expensive also no idea how they are going to police parking if your going shopping.
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