The Liberty

For the women's basketball team, see New York Liberty.

The Liberty
Location	London Borough of Havering, England
Opening date	1968
Owner	Cosgrave Property Group
No. of stores and services	100
No. of anchor tenants	7
Total retail floor area	730,000 square metres (7,900,000 sq ft)
No. of floors	1
Parking	806
Public transit access	Romford railway station
Website	www.theliberty.co.uk

The Liberty is a covered shopping centre located in the London Borough of Havering. It is the largest shopping centre in Romford. It was originally built in 1968 as the Liberty Shopping Centre and underwent a four-year redevelopment completed in 2004. The centre takes its name from the former Liberty of Havering and is owned by the Cosgrave Property Group. It is the largest indoor shopping centre in the borough and covers 730,000 square metres (7,900,000 sq ft) with 36,400 square metres (392,000 sq ft) of retail space, around 100 shops. The Liberty has an annual footfall of 23 million, equating to 425,000 people per week. It is linked to Mercury Shopping Centre (formerly Liberty 2) by an underpass.

History

The Liberty was first built in 1968.^[1] In 1999 Hammerson acquired Standards Life's 50% interest and in 2000 acquired the freehold on the land. In September 2006, Irish property developers, The Cosgrave Property Group acquired the centre from Hammerson.

2001-2004 redevelopment

The centre underwent an extensive redevelopment at the turn of the millennium. Previously, the main part of the centre was open-air, with several covered arcades running off from it linking it to other parts of the town centre. The changes undertaken in the 2000s included the covering of the main part of the centre with a glazed roof, and the development of a new car parking facility, plus new large stores for Next and H&M. Several existing stores were remodelled or relocated, or received other modernisations, as part of the redesign, including Boots, BHS and W H Smith.

Once the planning application had been granted for the transformation of the centre, work started in August 2001. In April 2003, the centre achieved practical completion.

Tenants

The Liberty is anchored by BHS, Boots, Debenhams, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Next, W H Smith and Primark.

Accessibility

The Liberty is near to Romford railway station and is on the route of a number of London Buses services.^[2] There are 806 secure parking spaces.

References

↑ "HISTORY OF THE LIBERTY". The Liberty.
↑ "Buses from Romford" (PDF). Transport for London. 5 September 2009.

External links

Official web site

London Borough of Havering

Districts	Ardleigh Green Chase Cross Coldharbour Collier Row Cranham Elm Park Emerson Park Frog Island Gallows Corner Gidea Park Hacton Harold Hill Harold Park Harold Wood Havering-atte-Bower Heath Park Hornchurch Noak Hill North Ockendon Rainham Rise Park Romford Rush Green South Hornchurch Upminster Upminster Bridge Wennington

Attractions	CEME The Diver Havering Museum Langtons Queen's Theatre Rainham Hall Rainham War Memorial The Rom Tithe Barn Museum Upminster Windmill

Major retail	The Brewery The Liberty The Mercury Romford Market

Places of worship	St Andrew, Hornchurch St Edward the Confessor, Romford St John, South Hornchurch St Helen and St Giles, Rainham St Laurence, Upminster St Mary Magdalene, North Ockendon

Parks and open spaces	Bedfords Park Dagnam Park Harrow Lodge Park Havering Country Park Hornchurch Country Park Hylands Park Pyrgo Park Tylers Common Wildspace Conservation Park Upminster Park

Constituencies	Dagenham and Rainham (part) Hornchurch and Upminster Romford

Tube and rail stations	Elm Park Emerson Park Gidea Park Harold Wood Hornchurch Rainham Romford Upminster Upminster Bridge

Other topics	Council Grade I and II* listed buildings People Public art Public transport Schools

Coordinates: 51°34′39″N 0°10′58″E / 51.57750°N 0.18291°E / 51.57750; 0.18291

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