Grand revival at Whiteleys, W2

Whiteleys in Bayswater is wooing sophisticated West Londoners back with a £6m makeover that includes a gourmet food hall, a host of new, quality retailers and the opening of Le Café Anglais in November 2007

Yes, it’s true – there’s a revolution taking place at Whiteleys. About time too, you might think. Save for the ex-models heading for Elegance Beauty or the glamour pusses and media types heading to Net-a-Porter and Princess Productions on the third floor, there’s not been a whole lot to attract Notting Hillbillies to the Bayswater centre in recent times.

All this is changing. With slick All Star Lanes already serving up ‘boutique bowling’ in the basement and the creation of Rowley Leigh and Charlie McVeigh’s much-anticipated Le Café Anglais almost complete on the first floor, new life is being breathed into the much-loved centre.

The revolution began when McDonald’s was ever-so-politely sent packing from its prime first-floor spot overlooking Porchester Gardens to make way for Leigh’s 6,000sqft, 170-cover brasserie, which intends to be ‘proudly English and yet utterly unashamed of our [gastronomic] debt to France’. With the beige plastic torn out, Le Café Anglais’ architects have opened up the space to show off its most striking feature – the magnificent 6.5-metre floor-to-ceiling Art Deco windows with views across the rooftops, along Queensway to the park.

The restaurant’s interior will match the grandeur of William Whiteley’s original 1911 department store – with plush leather banquettes, satin curtains and linen tablecloths. There will be an open kitchen, the leading feature of which will be a giant rotisserie on which you’ll be able to watch your chickens, partridges and legs of beef – sourced with Leigh’s customary care and passion for quality – slowly turning. The restaurant will be accessible via the shopping centre or the exclusive entrance at 8 Porchester Gardens. The way to West London’s heart, it seems, is through its stomach, which is why the new food ‘experience’ being created at Whiteleys must be spot on.

Lining up alongside Leigh is restaurateur Alan Yau, who is opening Cha Cha Moon, a 175-cover restaurant serving Szechuan cuisine, as well as another of his Busaba Eathai eateries. Yo Sushi is getting a revamp and there is talk of other deals including a microbrewey that will complete the international wining and dining experience.

The culinary experience will continue downstairs with a 6,000sqft gourmet food market created by Dominic Ford, the man who brought us Harvey Nichols’ Food Hall, Tamesa restaurant at Oxo Tower and, more recently, the Obika mozzarella bar in Selfridges. The market will feature a fishmonger, butcher and fromagerie, and numerous small independent suppliers, and is due to open in April.

The driving force behind this momentous rebranding is Alexander Jaques, director of Foundation, the company leading the project. Jaques, who has made a career of turning around failing shopping centres around the globe, joined Whiteleys two and a half years ago.

‘The traditional shopping centre management approach simply wasn’t working here and I don’t think there is any point in pretending that it was,’ he explains. It is Jaques’ job to transform the building and its contents to draw back the sophisticated West London crowd.

Although playing host to 8.5million visitors annually, Whiteleys says it has been tapping into a fraction of the potential local customer base – ‘because we haven’t got the offering or the physical environment’, say Jaques. The vision is to turn that around by ‘creating the most extraordinary experience’. ‘It will be the absolute antidote to the utilitarian shopping centre retail experience,’ he continues. ‘The food and restaurants help us get our core customers back into the building again and once they start doing that they will fall back in love with Whiteleys.’

Jaques explains his vision. ‘Our average consumer is just as happy shopping in Bond Street as shopping in Zara; they will have a set of items in their wardrobe that are driven by our values of beauty, sophistication, indulgence and quality. We will supplement that retail offer with a decent high-street offer.’ Who those retailers will be has yet to be revealed. New areas in the centre will also be dedicated to beauty, spas and gifts. ‘We are going to put shops in here that will be just as much about the experience as the welcome,’ Jaques enthuses.

And what of the other retail giant in the minds of West Londoners: Westfield? Jaques is unfazed. ‘Westfield White City is no threat to us at all,’ he says. ‘No matter what they communicate, our core customer is not a “shopping centre” customer. This is not a shopping centre – it’s a beautiful building that’s going to be full of beautiful products.’ He continues, ‘The parting of money is almost ancillary to the experience. We’re not chasing people’s wallets, we’re chasing their hearts.’ In the reborn Whiteleys, he says, ‘West London will finally get the building it deserves.’