Former Waterloo Eurostar terminal to open as 135,000 sq ft mall in 2021

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jun 24, 2019

New details have emerged about London and Continental Railways’ planned transformation of the former Eurostar terminal at Waterloo.

Forty glass-fronted stores and restaurants will be built to create a 135,000 sq ft upmarket shopping destination to rival St Pancras International, with developers hoping the scheme will open by April 2021.

London and Continental Railways have already signed Time Out Market as an anchor tenant, consisting of 17 restaurants and three bars across two floors.

And development director Adrian Lee told the Evening Standard he is hoping to attract a range of local, independent and national brands, including upmarket labels. The mix of retailers would be similar to that found at major airports, rather than the range of familiar high street brands usually located at stations, the newspaper said.

The building has been vacant since the Eurostar service moved to King’s Cross in 2007. Since then, there have been many attempts to reuse its platforms and refurbish the space. Some of its platforms have been brought back into use in the past two years.

Once complete, the destination will be certainly popular with commuters, and it will try to replicate the success of King’s Cross St Pancras, which saw retail sales grow 10% on a like-for-like basis in the 2018 Christmas period.

But Adrian Lee said there will also be opportunities to attract tourists visiting the area. “I’m as much interested in the 20 to 30 million people visiting the South Bank each year who don’t currently go even one street back from the river because it is not a very good experience. There is very little shopping around there. There is real pent-up demand.”