City shops to rival London's West End

伦敦金融城欲变身购物中心

The City of London could be transformed into a seven days a week shopping destination to rival that of popular West End locations, with plans to create as much as 1.5m sq ft of retail space – equivalent to the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush.

伦敦金融城(City of London)可能改造成一个每周7日的购物目的地，以便与颇受欢迎的伦敦西区(West End)竞争。金融城计划创设多达150万平方英尺的零售区域——与Shepherd's Bush的西田(Westfield)购物中心相当。

Retailers are keen to open stores in an area that not only boasts some of the wealthiest people in the country during the week, but also has the potential for strong weekend trade from surrounding neighbourhoods and tourists attracted to two of the capital's top destinations, St Paul's Cathedral and the Tate Modern. Canary Wharf has shown that office locations can also serve as large shopping areas, as they have done in many other global capitals.

零售商热衷于在金融城开店。该地区不仅号称在工作日期间拥有英国最富有的人群，而且周末还有着巨大的消费潜力，这种潜力来自附近社区居民和被伦敦两大旅游目的地——圣保罗大教堂(St Paul's Cathedral)和泰特现代美术馆(Tate Modern)——所吸引的游客。金丝雀码头(Canary Wharf)已经表明，办公区域也可用作大型购物场所，如同许多其它国家首都的做法一样。

The latest plans will see a revamp of the shopping around Broadgate, one of the largest schemes to emerge from the 1980s development boom. It follows the part-sale of the estate to Blackstone, the US private equity giant, by British Land last summer.

最新计划将改造Broadgate周边的购物场所。Broadgate是上世纪80年代开发热潮中涌现的最大项目之一。去年夏季，英国地产公司(British Land)将Broadgate部分出售给了美国私人股本巨头百仕通(Blackstone)。

The 16-building campus currently has a modest shopping area, including a seasonal ice rink and a number of bars, although agents say the type and scale of the facilities should be improved, if only to meet demand from its own 30,000 workers.

这座16层的建筑物目前有一个大小适中的购物区域，包括季节性的溜冰场和一些酒吧，尽管代理商表示，要想满足在此工作的3万名员工的需求，应该改善这些设施的类型和规模。

There is considerable retail potential around Broadgate, according to CB Richard Ellis, the property agent, in a report on the market. It said the “introduction of modern shopping space would also serve to reposition the area, almost matching Cheapside's strength as a retail and catering attraction”.

房地产中介机构世邦魏理仕(CB Richard Ellis)在关于该市场的报告中表示，Broadgate周边有着巨大的零售潜力。世邦魏理仕称，“现代购物场所的引进还将重新定位该地区的功能，几乎与切普赛德街(Cheapside)作为零售和餐饮目的地的地位相当”。

Peter Rees, City planning officer for Corporation of London, said the aim was to create the equivalent of west London's Sloane Street and King's Road. “This will give balance to London retailing as a whole,” he said.

伦敦金融城公司(The City of London Corporation)规划官彼得•雷斯(Peter Rees)表示，目的是创建一个与伦敦西部的斯劳恩大街(Sloane Street)和国王路(King's Road)相当的地带。雷斯表示：“这将给伦敦零售业整体带来平衡。”

“Over the years, we have had a problem attracting retailers to the City as shopping hours tended to be 12.30-3pm, five days a week. Retailers do tend to trade well here when they come. There is a lot of money that can be spent in the City – a lot of these wealthy workers only have the time to spend their money when they are in Terminal Five [of Heathrow airport] at the moment.”

“在过去几年内，我们未能吸引零售商前来金融城，因为购物时间往往是每周5个工作日的下午12点半到3点之间。当顾客来的时候，零售商确实会生意兴隆。金融城里有大量可供消费的资金——目前许多有钱的员工只有在（希思罗机场）5号航站楼花钱的时间。”