Luton

Home

Accommodation

Places to Visit

Shopping in Luton

Food & Drink

History of Luton

Directory

Shopping in Luton

The town centre is a sub-regional centre for a catchment population of some 350,000. It contains some 139,000 square metres (1.5 million square feet) of gross shopping floorspace. The core of the town centre comprises a large covered shopping centre called Luton Arndale Centre and the parallel outdoor area centered on George Street. Much of the outside shopping areas have been pedestrianised to make shopping more pleasant and safe. A recent addition to the town centre is the centre known as the "Galaxy" which comprises a multiscreen cinema, bingo hall, tenpin bowling, restaurant and bars.

Outside the town centre there are seven district shopping centres, including three modern superstores at Bramingham, Wigmore and the West Side Centre, and many local centres. There are a number of freestanding retail warehouses and a retail warehouse park on land adjoining Gipsy Lane.

Luton Arndale Centre

Someone years ago had a bold idea: to bulldoze the entire inner town centre of Luton and turn it all into a huge shopping mall. At least they named the aisles after the original street names. At a similar time the beautiful Edwardian library was demolished and is now a poundsaver, just an indication of the sensibility of the time. There is nothing we can do about that now so we just need to accept the Arndale for what it is: the dominant landmark in the town center.

The name Arndale comes from the two founders Arnold Hagenbach (a baker turned business man) and Sam Chippendale (an estate agent) who were inspired by the big malls in the USA and brought the concept to the UK. Each Arndale became the largest shopping centre in Europe and Luton's centre had this status before being upstaged by the Arndales in Wandsworth and Manchester.

The centre closes at about 6-7pm and with it all the coffee shops restaurants and pub it contains: the Traders Arms. The Arndale effectively divides the town into two halves so in the evening the central isle is left open later so that people coming into town from the train station don't have to walk around the complex at night.

Leslies of Luton

Here at Leslies of Luton we pride ourselves in being fishing tackle specialists, we have quality tackle for all your angling needs and with the discount we offer on many items we believe we offer you the best value.

Gladrags

Gladrags continually strives to be one of the most successful Independent Retailers for any woman looking for fashion, a mother of the bride dress or special occasion wear in the South East of England; our locations are in Luton, St. Albans and Dunstable. We are very well known locally and throughout the UK for our Mother of the bride and groom outfits.