The Glades Shopping Centre changing name to intu Bromley

1:36pm Thursday 17th January 2013 in News By Patrick Grafton-Green

The name of The Glades Shopping Centre is being changed to intu Bromley The name of The Glades Shopping Centre is being changed to intu Bromley

THE Glades Shopping Centre is to change its name to intu Bromley, as owner Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) bids to create a national brand to rival Westfield.

The rebrand will see 12 of CSC's shopping centres across the country given the prefix intu, at the cost of £25million.

It will include the introduction of free wi-fi at centres and the launch of a retail website intu.co.uk.

CSC itself will change its name to 'intu properties plc' on February 18, while intu.co.uk will be launched in April and the intu brand will be introduced to shopping centres from May.

General manager for The Glades, Howard Oldstein, said: "We very much look forward to implementing these initiatives which mark an exciting next phase in the evolution of our shopping centre."

What does the public think?

It remains to be seen whether the intu name sticks, but the change brings to mind a number of corporate rebranding disasters of recent years.

Who could forget Newcastle United chairman Mike Ashley's decision to rename St James' Park The Sports Direct Arena, much to the exasperation of every Newcastle fan alive, or Royal Mail's ill-fated attempt to defy a 366-year history and change its name to Consignia in 2001?

What about when the famous Sears Tower in Chicago, once the tallest building in the world, became the Willis Tower at the request of London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd., a name which inevitably never stuck?

Twitter response

On Twitter the response has been one of bewilderment, with Serenity Hair Beauty saying: "That's just wrong. Surely they could have come up with something better than that?"

Emma Bat responded: "Wow, ick!" while Claire Griffiths descibed the decision as "laughable."

What do the News Shopper readers think of the intu Bromley name-change? Add your comments below.

Comments(33)

Burntout says...
2:08pm Thu 17 Jan 13

'intu is not a word. It's a random collection of letters. Reads like an Aprill Fool.

Report this post »

goldenbroomboy says...
2:20pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Chavy.

As far as I concerned The Glades will always be The Glades.

Report this post »

Tonic says...
2:36pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Ridiculous - and what a waste of money. What does it mean? "I'm going into intu Bromley..." I seem to have developed a stutter.

Report this post »

Gypo.Joe says...
2:38pm Thu 17 Jan 13

It will of course help the illiterate chavs who can't read more than four letters.

meat ya dahn the intu like init.

Report this post »

the wall says...
3:00pm Thu 17 Jan 13

The Trafford Centre is also changing it's name to intu.

"Capital Shopping Centres is creating a national brand for its centres and launching a retail website allowing customers to buy from a variety of retailers in one transaction"

A turd is a turd no matter how much glitter it is rolled in.

Report this post »

Petra69 says...
3:01pm Thu 17 Jan 13

How stupid. This will be similar to Royal Mail trying to change to concerts or whatever it was. Think of Beckenham people still know it as the Regal cinema and roundabout but that changed about 40 year ago! If they can afford £25 million to do this why not reduce rents instead and help struggling retailers.

Report this post »

Polly Staight says...
3:47pm Thu 17 Jan 13

It is not news though...

I thought this was a news item in the "News Shopper"...

...however it is an advertisement.

Report this post »

gunner1740 says...
3:56pm Thu 17 Jan 13

I would imagine they will get symbol ( Prince ) to open it and invite all the shoppers from "Southmere Village " to the ceremony.

Report this post »

rarecockneyguvnor says...
4:08pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Well I would love to see that well known local celebrity Lord Erastus T Piggott open up the show.

Report this post »

Buttercup says...
5:14pm Thu 17 Jan 13

you can't polish a turd!!!!!!!!

Report this post »

Tim Sowter says...
6:40pm Thu 17 Jan 13

The name is completely irrelevant. What matters is the individual shops. So when I go in to Bromley I might think of going to Primark or M&S or Smiths for example, and whether or not shops are contained within a building which happens to be called The Glades or intu is unimportant. I just hope that if there is ever a fire in the shopping centre and somone dials 999 and says there is a fire in intu, not too much time is wasted while the operator gets confused and asks if the caller means The Glades.

Report this post »

rarecockneyguvnor says...
7:23pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Tim Sowter wrote:
The name is completely irrelevant. What matters is the individual shops. So when I go in to Bromley I might think of going to Primark or M&S or Smiths for example, and whether or not shops are contained within a building which happens to be called The Glades or intu is unimportant. I just hope that if there is ever a fire in the shopping centre and somone dials 999 and says there is a fire in intu, not too much time is wasted while the operator gets confused and asks if the caller means The Glades.
That you shop at Primark makes you irrelevant.

Thank You.

Report this post »

Slonik says...
8:11pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Great stuff - I'm now going to shop in Bromley all the time... lol

Report this post »

dag says...
10:59pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Complete waste of money. The Glades sounds far nicer.

Report this post »

mouthalmighty says...
11:38pm Thu 17 Jan 13

I totally agree Petra69. £25m? On logos and the like. Reduce the rent of the small retailer instead. This should be an criminal act. What a waste.

Report this post »

Eagles_Man says...
9:00am Fri 18 Jan 13

rarecockneyguvnor wrote:
Tim Sowter wrote:
The name is completely irrelevant. What matters is the individual shops. So when I go in to Bromley I might think of going to Primark or M&S or Smiths for example, and whether or not shops are contained within a building which happens to be called The Glades or intu is unimportant. I just hope that if there is ever a fire in the shopping centre and somone dials 999 and says there is a fire in intu, not too much time is wasted while the operator gets confused and asks if the caller means The Glades.
That you shop at Primark makes you irrelevant.

Thank You.
Ah, but he saves money in Primark to then waste on the overpriced stuff in Smiths. Overall it's cost neutral.

Report this post »

Burntout says...
9:28am Fri 18 Jan 13

To be fair the £25mil cost is for the 15 shopping centres and creation of online shopping mall. The Glades will become intu Glades or something similar. Much of the cost is to install broadband wifi in all the centres to combine window shopping and trying on clothes with home delivery. Not a bad idea if High Street shopping is to survive. Doing nothing is an option but then they risk following Comet, HMW, Woolworths, Clintons, Blockbusters etc. Using the cash to lower rents would not help these stores compete with pure online retailers who pay zero rent. If done well both tenants and shoppers get more.

Report this post »

Alconcalcia says...
10:22am Fri 18 Jan 13

Total waste of money (£10m on a website????, who's building it, Harry Enfield's 'saw you coming' character?) but can envisage lots of "I'm going intu bromley", "OK, where are you going?" I'm going to intu!" "Into where?" "Intu Bromley!!!" "But where?!!" "I'M GOING TO INTU BROMLEY!!!!" conversations.

Report this post »

bnorther says...
1:10pm Fri 18 Jan 13

Having it all in lower case is so last decade, and will not date the branding horribly... will it?

Report this post »

cherithporter says...
2:26pm Fri 18 Jan 13

Please don't change the name of the Glades shopping centre to 'intu, Bromley.

The Glades is much nicer as it goes with the colour.

Cherith Porter

Report this post »

ron.1952 says...
2:45pm Fri 18 Jan 13

I agree Cherith.

What a wonderful christian name by the way.


Ronny x

Report this post »

madras says...
6:18pm Fri 18 Jan 13

I can understand need to re-brand to help compete with Westfield centres but what a lame name - sounds too much like tATu for anyone who remembers them!

Report this post »

Tim Sowter says...
8:50pm Fri 18 Jan 13

Eagles_Man wrote:
rarecockneyguvnor wrote:
Tim Sowter wrote:
The name is completely irrelevant. What matters is the individual shops. So when I go in to Bromley I might think of going to Primark or M&S or Smiths for example, and whether or not shops are contained within a building which happens to be called The Glades or intu is unimportant. I just hope that if there is ever a fire in the shopping centre and somone dials 999 and says there is a fire in intu, not too much time is wasted while the operator gets confused and asks if the caller means The Glades.
That you shop at Primark makes you irrelevant.

Thank You.
Ah, but he saves money in Primark to then waste on the overpriced stuff in Smiths. Overall it's cost neutral.
Thank you both. Of course one of the joys of being middle aged is that you can walk around in Primark clothes and not care that you are not wearing designer labels from some overpriced fashion shop in the Glades. Right, now I have got that off my chest I am going to pop into Waitrose and blow the lot.

Report this post »

Gypo.Joe says...
9:34pm Fri 18 Jan 13

Waitrose, well now you are forgiven Tim. I can see you are of a certain age that was blessed with a sense of humour too. Snap !!

;)

Report this post »

The .Gypo says...
11:30am Sat 19 Jan 13

I got me velcro strap trainers outta primark nuffin wrong wiv em cheap and nasty me knows but erastus piggot started the trend with eis elasticated one size fits all joggin bottoms and throwaw stained velco trainers from china for a cockle dun deal i fooght i be avin sum of dat like so i did! :p

Report this post »

Inspirationalady28 says...
1:43pm Sat 19 Jan 13

So why are all the other Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) owned malls keeping their original names with just the "intu" in front? intuLakeside which is in Essex_intuPotteries which is in Staffordshire_intuTr
afford Centre which is Manchester etc'! Why can't they choose intuThe Glades and not Bromley? It seems Bromley is going to look a bit odd one out....

Report this post »

johnfirewall says...
5:01pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Not quite a global brand but people from outside the borough and even London have heard of The Glades. Surely it's about a local identity rather then a nationally recognised name. I don't go to Shephards Bush because of Stratford Westfields.

Also, awful name.

Report this post »

BickleyB says...
7:45pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Aren't the intu tribe Eskimos? I know it's cold at the moment but even Bromley gets warm a few days each year around July.

Report this post »

plodder46 says...
6:29pm Wed 23 Jan 13

Is this another misuse of the English language, what does 'intu' mean? I know Bromley needs more retailers but I wouldnt blame anyone for steering clear of a place called 'intu' I think Westfields do not have to worry about competition and I can see retailers going to Croydon, well done Capital you have put another nail in the Bromley shopping coffin

Report this post »

walkieswithace says...
9:37pm Wed 23 Jan 13

How pointless. Another ridiculous rebranding exercise and to what end? What's the objective? I think I'll boycott The Glades until they retract the ignorant new alternative. intu? It's nonsense and doesn't even mean anything.

Report this post »

mainman says...
11:41pm Wed 23 Jan 13

intu sounds too french. are the owners frogs. glades will never rival westfields or even come close.

Report this post »

mseven says...
10:30pm Thu 31 Jan 13

Unlike Westfield the Glades has no ambiance. The Glades had white floors, walls and ceilings, the new Westfield shopping centres in London and Bluewater have open spaces, illuminated atriums and food courts.

In the past 21 years the Glades has lost it's open spaces to RMUs / market stalls / kiosks the food court has become shops and the interior has become outdated.

Report this post »

mseven says...
11:16pm Thu 31 Jan 13

plodder46 wrote:
Is this another misuse of the English language, what does 'intu' mean? I know Bromley needs more retailers but I wouldnt blame anyone for steering clear of a place called 'intu' I think Westfields do not have to worry about competition and I can see retailers going to Croydon, well done Capital you have put another nail in the Bromley shopping coffin
I agree, there are many names better than intu, they could have called it Capital, so it would be Capital Bromley. I can see how the brand awareness can work like if you see a Westfield or The Mall (not the Mall in Bromley, the company that has malls called The Mall ) you would associate it with the others. It may even lead to national advertising for the intu centres giving intu Bromley higher publicity nationally and locally.

The problem with Croydon is they opened the Centrale Shopping Centre assuming the whole place will be occupied but it created too many retail units in Croydon and even if all companies came to Croydon there will still be empty shops, there are more retail units in Croydon than companies to fill them. Westfield is coming to Croydon to regenerate it but that was why Centrale came but 10 years later there are units there never occupied so it is questionable if Westfield can help Croydon unless they make large changes to the Centres there

What they did in Croydon would be like a rival company to the Glades buying the smaller The Mall shops, the surrounding land down to Waitrose, the office blocks behind up to Kentish way and opening a shopping centre which would be the same size as The Glades. Initially you would think it would be great, bring thousands of jobs to Bromley and double the shops in Bromley but in reality it would just shift shops around from older shops to new shops like what happened when the Glades opened. It also happens when new shopping centres like when Army and Navy / House of Fraser moved from Bromley to Croydon and Habitat moved from Bromley to Westfield White City

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree