To get to Westfield London we took the central line tube to Shepherd's Bush station, and the first thing I'd noticed was how they had improved the state of the underground station to reflect the new shopping centre. There were signs directing out of the station towards Westfield and the entrance was a 2 minute walk away.


We first entered through House of Fraser which was huge with many brand names instore rather than just a small collection. Each make-up counter had a small area for make-up artists to apply their product ranges to test.


When we entered the Westfield shopping centre through House of Fraser we found ourselves facing the luxury designer brand section named The Village. However, only Dior was open, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and other top brands weren't ready and wouldn't be opened until later months, some not opening until March 2009.


The apparent 5 star hotel trained concierge service was impossible to find even though they had mentioned there being more than one, but one was all we found after looking through to the ground floor. There were two members of staff available but many people wanting answers, and they seemed like they were unable to cope. This was obviously the only concierge service anyone could find.
Dotted around the area were electronic screens for shoppers to search shops and how to get there. This was more organised than Bluewater, but the Bluewater shopping centre provided easy to read maps, whereas Westfield's maps were difficult to read and understand, and there was often confusion with which floor the store would be on.


The Champange bar in The Village was probably the best experience, with trained, on hand staff who provided exquisite champagne and olives, and even had a hot food menu. Here we received complementary champagne after our first glass and complementary olives.

The range of stores in Westfields was extensive, but the range of clothing within the stores was bleak and boring as designers are careful without taking risks during the credit crunch.