The Glades

You may think that because kent has Bluewater that local shopping malls would suffer and why bother when you can go bluewater. Well you would be wrong. Bromley's the Glades is a truly innovative and forward thinking shopping experience, there's a shop for every occasion and budget and it's not stuffy or up it's own backside. The staff are helpful, there's plenty of parking (free for disabled) and there's lots of loos and places to eat. Outside there's some wonderful greenery and benches to chill out in the summer and then of course there's the great outdoor shops and markets.
* 365,385 Shoppers per week (*19 million per annum)
* 129 stores

This shopping mall is quite odd. It's got a pretty decent selection of shops and is generally quite a pleasant place to be, but they've given no thought to the placement of escalators, so you could be anywhere along the main stretch on either floor and you have to walk all the way to the other end to get to an escalator, or find your way to the escalator in Marks and Spencer if you're half way along.

It complements the high street and market square quite nicely, and you can find almost everything you're looking for here :)

This shopping complex runs pretty much the length of Bromley high street and is definitely the kind of place that's easy to max out the credit card come sale season. Most of the standard high street names you'd expect to find in the complex are there: H&M, Debenhams, French Connection, Virgin, The Link, The Perfume Shop Game, Lillywhites etc. It's arranged over two floors with car parking levels and a swimming pool to the rear. I've found it can be a little too bright and full on sometimes, but if it all gets too much there's got to be about 15 cafés that you can rest up in. Not much there if you're into alternative stuff fairly mainstream, but definitely bargains to be had and a lot easier to get to than many other shopping centres I know. And of course late night openings at all the usual times

Even though it's been eclipsed several times over by the likes of Bluewater, Westfield and no doubt many more to come, I'll always have a certain fondness for The Glades, and will probably always come back here from time to time.


I'll never forget when it first opened (back in the days when buses used to thunder up and down Bromley High Street) and I first discovered the delights of the Mall! There were some dreadfully tacky jewellery shops back then, but as 14-year-olds, we loved it.


Nostalgia aside, this is still a decent place to visit if you want shoes, clothes, sportswear or toiletries. There's a huge Boots, Debenhams, M&S and Zara. It's all quite easy to navigate and manageable, unlike some of today's mega malls shuffles off mumbling about young people. Hurrah for the Glades!

All you need under one roof, nice atmosphere too.


The Glades contains all the major high street shops you'd expect plus some others! I love their sweet stations in the middle. It all seems very clean and tidy.

It's not quite Bluewater but its considerably better than Lewisham shopping centre which is a bus ride further down the road.

Beaware of the agency workers that will stop you about side the centre trying to get you to fill in a survey or sign up to something random.

All in all what you would expect from a shopping centre with shops inside and outside with something for everyone.

Remember shopping before you moved to London? A distict lack of tourists getting in your way with their slow walking confusion, no need to clutch your bag in fear of dodgy pickpockets on Oxford Street, no walking two miles when you realise you forgot to go to New Look, no nearly getting knocked over by Russian princesses with Gucci bags? Ahh those were the days. If you fancy missing out on all of that once more I would highly recommend The Glades in Bromley. It's small enough to walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes but it has Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, Zara, and big H&M. Outside on the high street there is the biggest Primark I have ever seen, Next, Topshopeverything you could need for a day out shopping with no tourists, no crowds, no sixteen branches of Boots none of which stock what you want to buyyou get my picture.


Bus from Lewisham takes about half an hour, shops are all pretty new and smart - surprising given the centre must be twenty years old. Negative points are there aren't that many places to eat but we are talking about shopping here, other than that as an alternative to the frenetic rushing of town on a weekend, it's perfect.

When I lived in Sydenham, The Glades was a definite bonus as was so close, with lots of car parking spaces and a huge variety of shops. It did get quite busy at times, but I never found it too much. It is great with children also, and has good toilet facilities, although the lifts at Waterstones are amazingly slow, but the main shopping centre ones are fine.
One thing worth mentioning is the Santa Grotto at Christmas - good if you have lots of spare cash, but I found it rather expensive and overpriced.

This is a really great comprehensive shopping centre - so similar to malls in America. Everything you need is under one roof, it's clean and easy to navigate. Great toilet facilities, especially nappy changing. Good disabled access. A new branch of Starbucks has just opened next to M&S and is my favourite place to be!

The Glades has been my local haunt for many years, and it has steadily been getting better. It has all the major high-street shops like Zara, New Look and Debenhams, plus a small arcade with some independent shops. I like it's new H&M branch, much improved with 3 floors and a stylish layout. There is now a Mango store as well, and I think they're getting a Reiss soon as well. It can get busy at times, so I'd plan your trip well, and I'd recommend venturing onto the high street as well for the full Bromley experience. It is mainstream though, so there are no quirky, vintage finds, but there are some decent charity shops nearby that are worth a visit.