What good shopping malls are near Heathrow?

[Laura032004]

I've got a day to kill before taking my sister to the airport in the evening.

Looking for a Bluewater style place that we can go and spend the day.

Thanks

[stitch]

are you going to be mobile by car or train? coz bluewater and central london are all acessible with a wholoe day to spare.

[CountessDracula]

I don't know of any around there.

You could nip down the M4 to Reading I guess they may have one.

[unicorn]

brent x (by car) is okish. Big John Lewis.

[acnebride]

does it have to be a shopping mall per se? Richmond is really nice as a 'small town' feel and has some brilliant semi-independent clothes shops, jewellery shops, plus a dickens and Jones I think.

Reading has the Oracle, pretty amazingly huge plus the town centre is nice.

Kingston is supposed to be great shopping but don't try and drive there if you're flying on a Saturday.

[Ellbell]

The Oracle is Reading is good. If you don't have a car, you can get a bus from Reading train station to the airport. Not sure how frequent they are, but pretty frequent, I think.

[stitch]

get the train into central london. go to the theatre or cinema. or go siteseeing. be a tourist!

[Laura032004]

Unfortunately it will be this Saturday, so I don't think Central London is feasible with Live8 going on.

DH and DSis are going to the concert, but I've dipped out and am taking my little DSis to the airport. I was going to be going myself, but now I've realised how long it will be going on for, I don't think it will be fair to leave my DS for that long randomly traipsing round with my sisters

So we'll have to do a fair bit of retail therapy to cheer ourselves up

We've been to the Oracle before, but never shopping, just to the cinema. It's Bluewater that's got an Ikea nearby though isn't it? Where is Lakeside?

Will have a car BTW.

Thanks for all your answers!

[CountessDracula]

No Bluewater other side of London

It is Brent Park

[Surfermum]

You could go to Brent Cross, there's an Ikea on the North Circular on the way to it.

[Laura032004]

Sorry to sound a bit thick - is Brent Cross a shopping mall?

[Surfermum]

It is, free parking and all under cover.

[Laura032004]

Thanks all. Brent Cross it is then! What would I do without MN? Somebody somewhere always knows everything!

[Bugsy2]

Sorry to put a dampner on Brent Cross but that is in North London and Heathrow is West - won't it be a nightmare to get from one to the other on a Saturday?
Windsor has lots of lovely shops but not in a mall as such. There is a big mall in Uxbridge but it is not a very exciting one. There is a retail park at Kew (Mothercare, M&S, Gap, Boots). Big mall at Ealing Broadway too.
All those towns are probably (traffic permitting) within 20 mins of Heathrow.

[BadHair]

Agree with Bugsy - would be very slow traffic getting from Heathrow to Brent X on Sat afternoon. Especially as everyone's going to be driving round the North and South Circulars to avoid going through C London.
Uxbridge and Hounslow are the closest. Neither are particularly inspiring but they have all the high street shops plus a few local ones, and you can kill a few hours without stressing in a hot car. Watch out for the low-flying Jumbos over Hounslow - they used to terrify me.
Ealing's nice too - lots of cafe bars to cool off in after a hot afternoon of retail therapy.

[Ameriscot2005]

There aren't any huge shopping malls near Heathrow. But there are decent shopping towns where you can do a bit of shopping and eating - Windsor is the obvious choice, but Staines, Slough, and I'm sure other places, can keep you going for several hours.

[Ameriscot2005]

I'd pick Staines over Uxbridge and Hounslow any day. It's closer to LHR too.

Watford has a big mall (with JLP) and is about half-an-hour from LHR.