Battersea Power Station draws 11 million visitors in first year
Some retail still works: Battersea Power Station, the shopping centre created inside the restored 1930s brick building on the banks of the Thames in London, has attracted over 11 million visitors since it opened its doors exactly a year ago.
Forty years after the Power Station was decommissioned, the Grade II* listed building now has over 100 shops, bars and restaurants. Since the launch, over 35 new shops, eateries and leisure experiences have opened. These include a mix of premium, high street and small independent brands, including Apple Battersea, Bounce Ping Pong, LEGO®, ME+EM, Scamp & Dude, MALIN+GOETZ, Arc’teryx, Office Shoes, M&S Foodhall, APC, NOCI Pasta, Jigsaw, Penhaligon’s, Under Armour and others.
“The opening of the Power Station and Electric Boulevard in October 2022 after a decade of careful and transformational restoration was an extraordinary achievement,” said Simon Murphy, CEO, Battersea Power Station Development Company. “It has been amazing to witness Battersea Power Station become the vibrant and thriving riverside neighbourhood it is today, and we will continue to expand what this new town centre has to offer in the coming months and years.”
The riverside neighbourhood also offers a variety of dining options at over 30 cafes, bars and restaurants including the newly opened 24,000 sq ft Arcade Food Hall, which hosts 13 world cuisines on its menu.
Openings still to come at Battersea Power Station in 2023 include the UK’s first tashas, a popular café concept that started in South Africa, Searcy’s Champagne Bar and Borough Kitchen Cook Shop & Cook School. Boots will also debut its first beauty-only store later this year.
The mixed-use complex also has a residential component, with 254 apartments and 2,500 residents already living there. By the end of the year a new batch of 204 apartments, Koa at Electric Boulevard, designed by architects Foster + Partners, will open.
The office component also keeps expanding: currently over 6,000 workers are based at Battersea Power Station, with brands including Apple, SharkNinja and The Engine Room, a co-working space by IWG, taking up 565,000 sq ft of office space.
50 Electric Boulevard, a new 200,000 sq ft office building designed by Foster + Partners, will be completed later this year. The BREEAM Outstanding workplace has been designed with wellbeing and frictionless smart tech at its heart, including an 1,800 sq ft communal urban roof garden and a 4,000 sq ft amenity pavilion with trees and giant sky lights.
Lift 109, a unique glass elevator experience inside the building’s north west chimney, has proved popular with visitors keen to admire the view from the top. Since it opened in November 2022 the lift has ascended 20,000 times, covering a distance of 2,000 kms, twice the length of the United Kingdom.
Most trips to the shopping and leisure destination have been made using public transport. Entries and exits to newly-built Battersea Power Station Underground Station have more than doubled year-on-year, exceeding 8 million passcard ‘taps’ in and out over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, passenger arrivals by the river bus service, Uber Boat by Thames Clippers, have increased by 85%, with over 605,000 passengers carried in the past year.
