Citizens of Bromley are fuming at the sight of the recent change of name of their local shopping centre; 'The Glades', which first opened in 1991, is now part of a nationwide chain and has been renamed 'Intu Bromley'.

The centre is now owned by Intu Properties, formerly known as Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), and also owns or partially owns many shopping centres all over the UK. The company has now rebranded a majority of its shopping centres to incorporate 'Intu' into the names, hence 'Intu Bromley and 'Intu Uxbridge' giving a uniform and recognisable name for Intu Properties.

An expert in borough-based marketing has claimed that rebranding the centres would make them more internet-friendly. As internet shopping continues to increasingly grow we have to consider how easy it is to access; ‘The Glades’  could come up with plenty of unrelated results however ‘Intu Bromley’ is part of a bigger company and can be found effortlessly.

I interviewed regular customers in Bromley and there was mixed reviews of the new name. Some strongly disliked the name, others had taken a liking to it and the rest frankly didn’t really take any notice of it.

One shopper said fiercely “Regarding the new name, I think it’s ridiculous! What does ‘Intu’ even stand for? I can surely say most people liked it how it was before, nobody is going to call it that.”

On the other hand a more optimistic shopper replied suggesting it could bring a new crowd to the shopping centre and it sounds more ‘upper class’.

However, even though there is contrasting debates on the name this doesn’t change the exquisite quality and experience Intu Bromley provides, as it always has. So whether you call it ‘Intu Bromley’ or ‘The Glades’ your local shopping centre still remains, with the small difference of signs on the doors.