I love that Cardinal Place has just enough of everything that you need in one place.
I know it sounds lazy, but I only get 1 hour of lunch break and I’d rather not have to spend 20 minutes walking from shop to shop with little browsing time. Cardinal Place = problem solved!

Want a Birthday card? M&S will sort you out. Wrapping paper too.
Present? Thorntons Chocolates and L’Occitane - fab
Lunch? Boots (meal deal £3.50) or M&S (yum) - sweet
Clothes/shopping spree? Topshop is 10seconds around the corner - awesome!

I sound a bit sad, but really this is a cool shopping centre when you are tight on time (or just really lazy)!

(Also - much as it annoyed me at first - you cannot smoke under there any more, so it’s clean too :D )

Since 2006 Cardinal Place has become a dramatic, almost iconic architectural landmark in the Victoria area of London.

The centre comprises three buildings connected by a dramatic sail-shaped glass roof, enclosing a total of over million square feet in an open atrium. The buildings rest on rubber shock absorbers, as it is built directly over the District and Circle underground tunnels running to and from Victoria. The site mixes public open space (on several levels) with offices and residential accommodation, and has won awards for the level and quality of integration. It also incorporates a host of environmental technology and design features to reduce its carbon footprint.

Shops include a 40,000-sq ft Marks and Spencer as the anchor store, with other clothing vendors such as Zara, Topshop, L'Occitane and Hobbs. Restaurants include a Wagamama (see separate review), Zizzi and Nando's. There's a Ha!Ha! bar (see also separate review - not recommended...). Together with the extisting shops in Victoria Street, this has provided a real (and much-needed) retail boost to this part of London.

Whether you actually like the architecture depends on whether you like such uncompromising statements - approaching it from Victoria, the building certainly doesn't seem bothered about respecting those around it, although they've been careful to incorporate a view of Westminster Cathedral into one of the arcades. But there's no denying it adds drama to the Victoria streetscape.