WestQuay

Westquay

The Arundel Circus entrance to Westquay North (before Westquay South)
Location	Southampton, United Kingdom
Opening date	28 September 2000
Developer	Chapman Taylor & Partners
Management	Hammerson Operations
Owner	Hammerson
No. of stores and services	126 active (including Westquay South)
No. of anchor tenants	4 (including Westquay South)
Total retail floor area	74,000 sqm (796,536 sqf)
No. of floors	6 in Westquay North, 7 in Westquay South
Parking	Yes, 1 Podium, 1 Multi Storey
Website	www.west-quay.co.uk

Westquay (formerly WestQuay) is a shopping centre in Southampton, United Kingdom, and has an area of 800,000 square feet (70,000 m²) of retail space and contains around a 150 shops, including major retailers such as, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Zara, Schuh, Waterstone's, Hollister Co., Apple, and many more top brand names.

It is situated in the city centre, close to the docks, with entrances on the main High Street (Above Bar Street), on Portland Terrace, through Waterstone's and through John Lewis, and on Harbour Parade, through the new (2016-2017) Westquay South. There is a built-in multi-storey car park with an entrance into the centre along with a 3 tier car park beneath. Building work began in 1997 as the former Daily Echo building and Pirelli Cable Works were demolished to make way for the centre. Westquay North was opened on 28 September 2000.

The building is heated using geothermal energy, as is the civic centre. A centralised plant uses heat from an aquifer underground and then distributes it to the buildings in the city centre via a district heating scheme.

The John Lewis store replaced the local department store Tyrrell & Green (a branch of the John Lewis Partnership), which met with mixed emotions from the local people. Marks & Spencer relocated from Above Bar Street to take the second anchor store.

There have been a few major changes to the Westquay North's shops since its opening. Tower Records (which faced fierce competition from the HMV store across the street) was replaced with a Nike store, which closed after just a few months. This unit is now Pret A Manger, a sandwich retailer. Waitrose moved to Portswood in 2006 and the old Waitrose space has now been replaced by New Look, which was originally located in a smaller store a floor above. The former New Look store is now River Island. Waitrose did return, however, to Westquay North in 2015 within the lower ground floor of the John Lewis store, branded as Little Waitrose.