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 o ...

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 ...

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 cap ...

, 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 cons ...

tunnel with The Galleria on top. It was a project of

Gerald Carroll Gerald John Howard Carroll (born 1951) is a British businessman. He was the head of his family business the Carroll Group, once one of the largest private companies in the United Kingdom, until it collapsed in the early 1990s, leading to his ban ...

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 bu ...

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 which houses the

A1(M) motorway 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 ...

. 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 Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, n ...

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...

. 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 Al ...

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 new ...

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, and ...

to the west,

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Steven ...

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,

to the east, and Barnet 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

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galleria, The (Hatfield, Hertfordshire) Outlet malls in England Shopping centres in Hertfordshire

History

Features

Location and transport links

Gallery

See also

References