Thousands have turned out for the long-awaited launch of Westfield London, which opened its doors at 9am this morning.

It brings 265 new stores to west London covering more than 1.6 million sq ft of space on the 43 acre site in White City.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson is due to open the scheme in an official ceremony at 10.30am this morning and a day of events has been organised to welcome shoppers to the new centre, including an appearance by Australian pop star Danni Minogue at the HMV store.

Anchor tenants on the scheme are House of Fraser, Debenhams, Next and Marks & Spencer.

It also includes more than 50 cafes and restaurants, 4,500 parking spaces, a 14-screen cinema, a gym and a spa.

One of the scheme’s most talked about features, the Village, is a precinct of 40 stores focused around luxury fashion and jewellery.

Only 50 per cent of the area, which includes Louis Vuitton, Prada, Tiffany and Gucci, was trading when the centre opened this morning.

By the time of today’s opening there were only two stores in the scheme not in solicitors’ hand and about 80 per cent were open and trading.

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