Opening new shopping centres used to be the reserve of has-been sports stars and Les Battersby off of Coronation Street.
Not so much these days, though, as this week has seen the brand new Westfield Stratford shopping centre opened by the Mayor and two number one chart artists. Keen to leave a lasting legacy of the Olympic Games, London now has a new £1.4 billion shopping centre, which is presumably what Baron de Coubertin had in mind when he envisioned the worldwide sporting event over a century ago.
Joining Bozza at the opening were Pixie Lott and ex-Pussycat Doll singer Nicole Scherzinger although there was drama when a ceiling tile fell 30 feet and almost landed on the Mayor (well, it landed somewhere in his vague vicinity). According to Christian Radnedge, a reporter from Soccer and Olympic News, people were SHOCKED! and CONFUSED! and PETRIFIED! by the drama.
Unbowed, Bozza said: “Westfield’s Stratford City project is setting the pace for the transformation of east London. It is one of the most important legacies of the 2012 Olympics.
“It will create 18,000 jobs and, as a result of Westfield’s investment, have some of the most modern additions to London’s public transport infrastructure.”