The Galleria is a
designer outlet centre in
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It had a population of 29,616 in 2001, and 39,201 at the 2011 Census. The settlement is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, home of the Marquess of ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
History
The center was developed in the 1980s as part of a plan to reduce congestion in Hatfield while increasing retail space. The
A1(M)
A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in England. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capit ...
, a bypass of the old
Great North Road from London, was built as a
cut-and-cover
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...
tunnel with The Galleria on top.
It was a project of
Gerald Carroll's
Carroll Group
The Carroll Group was a family-owned group of businesses formed in the early twentieth century that expanded rapidly in the 1980s when it was taken over by Gerald Carroll, grandson of the founder. At that time it was one of the largest private b ...
and was budgeted at £50 million but cost £90 million by the time it was finished, 18 months late. Carroll refinanced the project and injected £30 million. It opened in 1991, but banker
Samuel Montagu
Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling (21 December 1832 – 12 January 1911), was a British banker who founded the bank of Samuel Montagu & Co. He was a philanthropist and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1900, a ...
placed the scheme in receivership in 1992. Afterwards, records were found showing the purchase of bugging equipment and the employment of private detectives to watch the bankers involved.
["Party ends as property meteor crashes to earth", John Waples, '']The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'', 26 February 1995, pp. 2 & 7.
The centre was converted to an outlet-led centre in 1996.
Land Securities
Land Securities Group plc is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is ...
acquired the centre from Galleria Jersey Ltd in 2005 and took full control of the asset management of the centre in September 2006.
Features
The centre occupies 28,800 sq ft of space. There are more than 80 designer outlets trading at The Galleria.
Location and transport links
The centre is located 6 miles north of London's orbital motorway, the
M25. It is situated on top of the
Hatfield Tunnel
Hatfield may refer to:
Places Settlements Australia
* Hatfield, New South Wales, located in Balranald Shire
England
* Hatfield, East Riding of Yorkshire
* Hatfield, Herefordshire
* Hatfield, Hertfordshire
* Hatfield, South Yorkshire
* Hatfiel ...
which houses the
A1(M) motorway
A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate controlled-access highway, motorway sections in England. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1, a major north–south road which connects Greate ...
.
The centre can be reached from Junctions 3 or 4 of the
A1(M), which provides connections to the
M25, or by the
A414 from
Hertford or
St Albans
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...
. By public transport, the centre can be accessed from
Hatfield railway station
Hatfield railway station serves the town of Hatfield in Hertfordshire, England. The station is managed by Great Northern. It is measured from on the East Coast Main Line.
History
Hatfield was formerly the junction of a branch to St A ...
or
St Albans City railway station
St Albans City railway station, also known simply as St Albans, is one of two railway stations serving the city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England (the other being ). The 'City' station is the larger of the two, as it is on the better-conn ...
. Both stations have bus links to the centre. Buses run from various places, such as
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500.
Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...
and
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
to the west,
Stevenage and
Welwyn Garden City
Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...
to the north,
Hertford to the east, and
Barnet
Barnet may refer to:
People
*Barnet (surname)
* Barnet (given name)
Places United Kingdom
*Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below.
*East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...
and
Potters Bar
Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England,in the historic County of Middlesex Hertsmere Borough Council – Community Strategy First Review (PDF) north of central London. In 2011, it had a population of 21,882. In 2022 the population was ...
in the south.
Gallery
Image:thegalleria(outside)1.jpg , Outside view of The Galleria
Image:thegalleria(inside)1.jpg , Inside view of The Galleria
Image:thegalleria(inside)2.jpg , Inside view of The Galleria
Image:thegalleria(aerial)2.jpg , Aerial view of The Galleria
Image:thegalleria(aerial)1.jpg , Aerial view of The Galleria
Image:Hatfield_Galleria_exterior.jpg, The south wing of The Galleria with the connecting bridge on the right
See also
*
List of shopping centres in the United Kingdom
This is a list of shopping centres in the United Kingdom. This list does not include retail parks.
England
The list is split by region.
London
* Angel Central, Angel
* Aylesham Centre, Peckham
* The Bentall Centre, Kingston upon Thames
* B ...
*
Gunwharf Quays
Gunwharf Quays is a shopping centre located in the Portsea area of the city of Portsmouth in England. It was constructed in the early 21st century on the site of what had once been HM Gunwharf, Portsmouth. This was one of several such facilitie ...
- another outlet centre owned by Land Securities in
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galleria, The (Hatfield, Hertfordshire)
Outlet malls in England
Shopping centres in Hertfordshire