Westfield Stratford City has cost £1.45 billion (picture by Gregory Fonne)

by Martin Jefferies, Jess Banham and Nisha Chopra

multimedianews@thekmgroup.co.uk

London's latest shopping centre opens its doors today – and traders in Kent are divided on how it will affect their businesses.

Westfield Stratford City – sited next to the Olympic Park – is Europe's largest urban retail space, with around 300 shops, 70 bars and restaurants, three hotels and a 17-screen cinema.

westfield in numbers

£1,450,000,000 total cost

1,900,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space

300 shops, including anchors john lewis and m&s

25,000 construction jobs

18,000 permanent jobs

5,000 car parking spaces

4,000,000 people live within 45 minutes

It is likely to prove popular with shoppers from Kent, thanks in part to its connection with the High Speed rail line.

But Andrew Aves, development manager at the Federation of Small Businesses in Kent and Medway, fears the new £1.45 billion complex could add to the vulnerability of Kent's high streets.

Figures released last week named Margate and Dartford as among Britain's ghost towns. In the Thanet town, more than 36% of shops are lying empty.

Mr Aves said: "Major shopping centres do tend to draw trade away from the traditional high street and there is usually an overall net loss of employment and prosperity that results from that within the local community.

"Major shopping centres can act as an attraction but the amount of money they put back into the local community is much less than the smaller independent trader."

However, Paul Alcock, manager of The Mall in Maidstone, is confident shops in the county town will survive.

He said: "When we look back at the opening of Bluewater, there was a lot of doom and gloom in Maidstone, but it didn't have a major impact on the town centre.

"I think Stratford City will be somewhere to visit, especially with the Olympics coming up, but I don't think it will take shoppers away from Maidstone.

"Our strong, vibrant economy, with our large number of independent traders, will see people return to the town time and time again."

Meanwhile, Southeastern is laying on extra trains to Stratford International today and on Saturday to cope with the expected increase in passengers.

More than 150,000 shoppers are expected on the opening day alone.

From next week, passengers will no longer need to use a bus to travel between the international and regional stations at Stratford. A new walkway and extension to the DLR are due to open on Tuesday.