Westwood Cross is a shopping centre in Westwood in Thanet

Thanet

Thanet is a local government district of Kent, England which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. It is circled by Broadstairs

Broadstairs

Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about south-east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St. Peter's and had a population in 2001 of about 24,000. Situated between Margate and...

, Margate

Margate

-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....

 and Ramsgate

Ramsgate

Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...

. It was built by Carillion and opened in June 2005. According to Land Securities, the owner, Westwood Cross is "the new Town Centre for the Thanet region".

Main shopping centre

Westwood Cross main shopping centre consists of an open pedestrianised arcade

Arcade (architecture)

An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....

 occupied mostly by High Street

High Street

High Street, or the High Street, is a metonym for the generic name of the primary business street of towns or cities, especially in the United Kingdom. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in city centres, and is most often used in reference to retailing...

 shops. There are 46 units occupying an area of 475000 sq ft (44,128.9 m²) and there are 1,500 parking spaces. There are two anchor store

Anchor store

In retail, an anchor store, draw tenant, anchor tenant, or key tenant is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain....

s, Debenhams

Debenhams

Debenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...

 and Marks and Spencer.

In October 2007 an entertainment development opened on a site to the southwest of Westwood Cross. This comprises four restaurants, a large Vue

Vue (cinema)

Vue Entertainment , formerly known as SBC International Cinemas, is a cinema company in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The company was formed in May 2003 when SBC acquired 36 Warner Village cinemas. There are now 69 Vue cinemas, with 654 screens totaling 140,500 seats, including the rebranded...

 multiplex cinema (opened in November 2007), a casino and Gala bingo hall which both opened in March 2008.

Phase Two of Westwood Cross was recently completed, following the relocation of the Wickes

Wickes

Wickes is a do-it-yourself retailer based in the United Kingdom and owned by Travis Perkins, with more than 190 stores throughout the country. It focuses on supplies and materials for homeowners and the building trade...

 store which formerly stood beside the bus station. This addition to the centre includes several new retail units and space for up to three restaurants along with extra parking. As of April 2010 only two of the new units have been leased and the others stand empty.

Neighbouring developments include East Kent Retail Park (Matalan

Matalan

Matalan is a British retailer that specialises in shoes and clothes. It was founded by John Hargreaves in 1985. It currently has 200 stores across the UK. The 200th store opened on 22 September 2006 in Croydon...

, Staples, Harveys Furniture

Harveys Furniture

Harveys Furniture is a British furniture retailer with over 150 stores throughout the United Kingdom. It has been the sponsor of long running soap opera Coronation Street since 30 September 2007. It is wholly owned by Steinhoff International which owns more than 70 factories. Steinhoff was founded...

, and Pets at Home

Pets at Home

Pets at Home is a large pet supplies retail chain in the United Kingdom. With 300 stores nationwide, it is the largest pet supplies retail chain in the United Kingdom Pets at home currently have over 5000 employees...

) and Westwood Gateway Retail Park (Argos

Argos

Argos is a city and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. It is 11 kilometres from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour...

, Paul Simon

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

, Homebase

Homebase

Homebase is a British home improvement store and garden centre, with 350 stores across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is well known by its green and orange colour scheme. Together with its sister company Argos , it forms part of Home Retail Group. Homebase recorded sales figures...

, Maplin Electronics

Maplin Electronics

Maplin Electronics is a retailer of electronic goods in the UK and Ireland. As of December 2010, there are 180 Maplin Electronics stores in the United Kingdom...

 and Sports World

Sports World

SportsDirect.com is a British sporting goods retailer, the primary retail asset of Sports Direct International plc. The company was formerly known as Sports World and before that Sports Soccer, but since 2007 branches of the chain have been rebranded as SportsDirect.com, the domain name of its...

). Both sites are owned by Hammerson

Hammerson

Hammerson plc is a major British property development and investment company. The firm switched to Real Estate Investment Trust status when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...

.

There is a Sainsbury's, McDonalds and a large Tesco Extra nearby.

As of 2005 the centre created 1,500 jobs in the Broadstairs area.

Westwood Cross is situated on the former Haine Hospital site, which closed in June 1997 and was demolished in 2003.

Shops

Shops at Westwood Cross include

• The Body Shop
  The Body Shop
  The Body Shop International plc, known as The Body Shop, has 2,400 stores in 61 countries, and is the second largest cosmetic franchise in the world, following O Boticario, a Brazilian company...
  
  
• Boots
  Boots UK
  Boots UK Limited , is a leading pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom, with outlets in most high streets throughout the country...
  
  
• Burton
• Carphone Warehouse
• Claire's Accessories
• Clarks
  C&J Clark
  C. and J. Clark International Ltd, trading as Clarks, is a British, international shoe manufacturer and retailer based in Street, Somerset, England...
  
  
• Clintons
• Debenhams
  Debenhams
  Debenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...
  
  
• Dorothy Perkins
  Dorothy Perkins
  Dorothy Perkins, whose trading name was inspired by a rambler rose of the same name, is a large British women's clothing retailer, active mostly in the United Kingdom.- History :...
  
  

• Ernest Jones
  Ernest Jones (retailer)
  Ernest Jones is a British jeweller and watchmaker. Established in 1949, its first store was opened in Oxford Street, London. Ernest Jones specialises in upmarket diamonds and watches, stocking brands such as Gucci and Emporio Armani....
  
  
• Evans
• Fusion Hair and Beauty
• GAME
  GAME (retailer)
  The Game Group plc is a British video games retail company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index....
  
  
• H. Samuel
  H. Samuel
  H. Samuel is a mass-market jewellery chain, operating in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is the number one middle mass-market jewellery store in the United Kingdom. There are 375 stores as at 23rd Feb 2008. An increasing number of the chain's stores trade in a new format known...
  
  
• H&M
  H&M
  H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....
  
  
• HMV
  HMV
  His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
  
  
• Hobbycraft
  Hobbycraft
  HobbyCraft is the registered trademark of HobbyCraft Group Ltd., an arts and crafts superstore chain.It is the largest chain of craft superstores in the United Kingdom, and the first of its kind in Europe. Craft shops are traditionally small and based on specific crafts, whereas HobbyCraft stocks...
  
  
• HSBC
  HSBC Bank (Europe)
  HSBC Bank plc is one of the four major clearing banks in the United Kingdom and is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings. The business ranges from the traditional High Street roles of personal finance and commercial banking, to private banking, consumer finance as well as corporate and...
  
  

• JD Sports
  JD Sports
  JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as just JD, is a sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England with shops throughout the United Kingdom and with one in Ireland...
  
  
• JJB Sports
  JJB Sports
  JJB Sports plc is a United Kingdom sports retailer. It currently operates 251 stores in the UK and Ireland.- History :The sportshop chain was founded in 1971, when ex-footballer Dave Whelan acquired a single sports shop in Wigan. The original store was established by JJ Broughton in the early...
  
  
• Marks and Spencer
• Monsoon
  Monsoon Stores Ltd
  Monsoon Accessorize is a design-led retailer based in London operating two international retail clothing chains - Monsoon and Accessorize.- History :...
  
  
• Mothercare
  Mothercare
  Mothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
  
  
• New Look
• Next
• O2
• Peacocks
  Peacocks (retailer)
  Peacocks, is a fast fashion retailer based in Cardiff, Wales. The chain is owned by The Peacock Group plc and employs over 6,000 people. There are currently over 600 Peacocks stores in the United Kingdom and more than 200 in 12 overseas countries...
  
  
• The Perfume Shop

• River Island
  River Island
  River Island is one of Britain's best known high street fashion brands and can be found in most cities across the UK. The brand also has stores in Singapore, Turkey, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Middle East.-History:...
  
  
• Select
• Smyths
  Smyths
  Smyths is an Irish toy superstore chain founded c.1987, and the largest toy retailer in Ireland, claiming to have 60% of the €320M market. It is a family-run company, with four Smyth brothers running the business...
  
  
• Thorntons
  Thorntons
  Thorntons is a UK chocolate company established by Joseph William Thornton in 1911. Thorntons today is a £180 million turnover company with nearly 400 shops and cafes and around 200 franchises together with internet, mail order and commercial services...
  
  
• TK Maxx
• Topman
  Topman
  TOPMAN is the stand-alone fashion business counterpart of Topshop that caters exclusively to men’s clothing. A part of the Arcadia Group, which also owns Burton, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Evans, British Home Stores and Dorothy Perkins, Topman has a chain of high-street men's clothing stores located...
  
  
• Topshop
  Topshop
  Topshop is a British clothes retailer with shops in over 20 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its sales come primarily from women's clothing and fashion accessories...
  
  
• Waterstones
• WHSmith

Refreshments are available at Bakers Oven

Bakers Oven

Bakers Oven was a bakery company based in the UK. The company is a division of Greggs PLC which is based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and is quoted on the London Stock Exchange. They specialise in pasties and bread items and most stores sell drinks...

, Caffe Nero

Caffè Nero

Caffè Nero or Caffè Nero Group Ltd is an Italian-style coffee shop chain primarily based in the UK. It was founded in 1997 in London as the Caffe Nero Group by Gerry Ford...

, Coffee Republic

Coffee Republic

Coffee Republic is a British coffee bar and deli franchise chain founded in 1995.- History :* 1995Coffee Republic is founded by brother and sister team Bobby and Sahar Hashemi, opening its first site in London's South Molton Street.* 1996...

, Subway

Subway (restaurant)

Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...

 and Costa Coffee

Costa Coffee

Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse company founded in 1971 by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. Since 1995 it has been a subsidiary of Whitbread, since when the company has grown to over...

.

Transport connections

On one side of the centre is a bus station, served by Stagecoach in East Kent and Eastonways

Eastonways

Eastonways is an independent bus and coach operator provides regular bus services in and around Thanet, Kent in England.Eastonways' services regularly operate in Margate, Westgate, Broadstairs, St Peters, Ramsgate and surrounding villages, Birchington, Acol, Manston, Minster & MonktonThese services...

. In particular Stagecoach in East Kent's Thanet Loop passes through the centre. The nearest train station is located at Ramsgate

Ramsgate railway station

Ramsgate railway station serves the town of Ramsgate in Thanet in Kent, England, and is located about 10 minutes away on foot from the town centre. The station lies on the Chatham Main Line 127 km east of London Victoria, the Kent Coast Line, and the Ashford to Ramsgate line...

, which is 1.7 miles away. The next nearest town centre is Broadstairs

Broadstairs

Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about south-east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St. Peter's and had a population in 2001 of about 24,000. Situated between Margate and...

 (whose boundaries include Westwood Cross), although this is a small town centre with few major shops. In November 2008 a new road linking Newington with Westwood Cross was completed. It cost £6.75m.

New developments

In 2007, J Sainsbury PLC announced a partnership with Land Securities which included their site next to Westwood Cross which is also owned by Land Securities.

Immediate locality

• Broadstairs
  Broadstairs
  Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about south-east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St. Peter's and had a population in 2001 of about 24,000. Situated between Margate and...
  
   (Westwood Cross is located in the parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's
  Broadstairs and St Peter's
  Broadstairs and St Peter's is a civil parish in the Thanet district of Kent, England. The parish comprises the settlements of Broadstairs, St Peters and Westwood, including Westwood Cross. It is a successor parish, created in 1974 to replace Broadstairs and St Peter's Urban District. It is governed...
  
  )
• Margate
  Margate
  -Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
  
  
• Westgate-on-Sea
  Westgate-on-Sea
  Westgate-on-Sea is a seaside town in northeast Kent, England, with a population of 6,600. It is within the Thanet local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate...
  
  
• Ramsgate
  Ramsgate
  Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
  
  
• Birchington

Criticism and controversy

The Kent county authority's decision to allow the development of a leisure complex including multiplex cinema, restaurant, bingo hall and casino was controversial. It was eventually approved by the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

.

According to The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

,

Broadstairs, Ramsgate and Margate now circle Westwood Cross, a vast shopping centre and entertainment park that opened in 2005. It has planning consent for 1,000 houses and locals are nervous that this will create a Thanet supertown and destroy the individual appeal of Broadstairs.

In 2008, there was criticism from church leaders over the opening of a casino at the centre.