The Glades is owned jointly by CGNU and Capital Shopping Centres, who also manage the centre.

The centre was developed at a cost in excess of £120,000,000. Construction commenced in Autumn 1988 with some 2,000 people working on the construction, some 332,000,000 cubic metres of excavation was removed by 22,000 lorries, 116,000 cubic metres of concrete was laid, 411 miles of cabling installed and some 4,400,000 bricks used!

A competition was run by a local newspaper, the News Shopper, to select a name for the centre, The Glades was chosen to reflect the leafy green image of the Borough, and the derivation of the name Bromley. BROM (the broom plant) and LEY (leah, originally meaning a Glade).

The official opening of the centre by the Mayor of Bromley took place on 22nd October 1991, six stores actually opened – it was a quiet day on the shopping front! However, business soon started to build, and by Christmas 1991 thirty stores had opened.

Twelve years on the centre has over 130 retailers. Over 18 million visitors now come to the shopping centre every year; that is over 360,000 on average per week. Bromley is rated as one of the top ten shopping destinations (CACI Info Services/PROMIS) in Greater London and the second largest in the South East.

And, by the way, the centre uses 576 miles of toilet roll per year, 8,000 cubic yards of rubbish is generated, there is 2 _ miles of brass – cleaned every night and almost 100,000 cups of coffee are served - which would keep a family of four in coffee for 87 years!

Bromley Retailers
The retail footage of Bromley is over 1.5m sq.ft. and hosts a very strong line up of household names, including BhS, C&A, Mothercare, NEXT, WH Smith, Woolworth, Argos, Index, Habitat, The Pier, Top Shop, Laura Ashley, Waterstones, Gap, Etam, HMV, Russell & Bromley, Monsoon and Waitrose. Part of the High Street is pedestrianised.

Bromley – Leisure
The Pavilion’s Leisure Centre
The Churchill Theatre
Odeon Cinema