Come, Let Us Worship At The New Temple of Greed. By Uncle Monty.

Come, Let Us Worship At

The New Temple of Greed.

Story By Uncle Monty.

Photos By Alex Albion.
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Cold, clinical, and classless was Europe’s newest,

biggest, costliest, and most unfriendly, £1.7 billion

Westfield Shopping Centre that opened with great

and contrived public fanfare just over two weeks
ago at the seven million-populated

British capital of London.
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With thousands of blinding neon and regular

lights, coupled with gaudy trappings, tacky

and loud displays, expensive designer goods,

and a constant uniformity of major brand
name stores, Westfield gave little or no

warmth or comfort to the sheep-like wond-

erings of its new shoppers or curious visitors

checking out the spacious interior and its floor

plan that required lengthy and tiring walks
to view the whole shebang. Everywhere in-

side Westfield, seemed so mechanical and

impersonal. Plus, somehow it was even frozen

in its artificial atompshere and its rude and
blatant "grab-by-the-throat" commercialism.
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Main Entrance To Westfield.

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There was also, being so new, a shining strange-

ness about the place that prevented any real or

discernable ambience. No depth of creditability
or any standing of a good business reputation

seemed evident despite the moneyed accolades

by city business leaders and rhetorical political

officials at the grand opening of the Westfield

Shopping Centre.

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Westfield itself is so overly ostentatious,

too, it could give giddy spells and spasms to

some folkz on the spot. Despite that, what
Westfield really is is just a fancy, cosmetic,

and shallow strip mall by any other name.
Even worse, it beckons and allures without

saying “Come, Let Us Worship At The

New Temple of Greed.”

That it surely is …
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An Exterior View of Westfield Mall.

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With 265 retail stores on two levels, with 14-

screen cinemas set to open by mid-2oo9,
along with parking space for 4.500 cars and

£250 million spent to revamp the local public
transport system at Shepherd’s Bush, White

City and Wood Lane, Westfield could well land-

up as a huge White Elephant despite its fancy

entrances called The Atrium and The Village.

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It’s also a “shopaholic’s paradise,” declared

boldly the four-page supplement in the daily free-

sheet called “thelondonpaper.” Ah yes, “paradise”
does then exist at The New Temple of Greed? For

some, most definitely yes. How empty are these

people spiritually and emotionally for their need

to be consummate consumers with avaricious de-

light and gluttonous taste? Where have all the roses
gone? What have we done to be so seduced by such

a hollow commercial contraption and so-called

“shopping revolution” like Westfield Shopping Centre?
Perhaps, after all is said and done, Westfield maybe

little more than a “shopping revulsion” for some

at Europe’s "New Temple of Greed."
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Bigger Than Life At Westfield Shopping Mall.

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Give it 10, 15 or 20 years from now and Westfield
will start crumbling as a physical structure. Chips
and dents were already seen on the some of the
outdoor furniture and the place has only been
opened less than three weeks ... Let alone, if it
can commercially-survive for say 10 or 15 or so

long years as Europe’s present largest shopping
mall. If last Thursday's morning visit was any
indication at all of the future commercial via-
bility of Westfield, then it looks pretty grim
with most stores quite empty and few
shoppers carrying any shopping bagz.
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Westfield, with its 1 and 2 level shopping areas,
would require a small fortune to patronize just
five percent of the 265 business stores. Fatigue
soon sets in just walking about to window shop
let alone actually spending time and good money
in each store of one’s desire and fancy. In reality,
London's Westfield Shopping Centre is a complete
overkill no matter how you shuffle the cards.
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Westfield's Main Walking Artery.
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Talk could be sorrowfully heard just 18 months ago
about helping the corner shop or small store owner
in England from being gobbled up and put out of
business by such gangly commercial ventures like
Westfield. They die do the little guyz, while the big,
greedy, and ugly guyz continue to dominate the mar-
ket share and choice of the shopping public that quickly
flock to buy from the big stores and not the little ones.
Folkz will travel miles to go to the New Temples of
Greed like Westfield, but won’t walk just down the
street to buy something from their local family-owned
store. “My mom only shops at Waitrose and never at
Woolies,” was the refrain of one lady who rarely shops,
she said, at her corner shop. Why? ”Because the produce
is too expensive and past-dated,” she said. She was
impressed by Westfield, declaring “It’s a lovely
shopping place … “ Isn’t it like a New Temple
of Greed?, she was asked. “Oh, goodness me,
NO.” Then she jokingly added, "I’m a good
Catholic girl, so there you are …” Guess she
was about 40 years of age and dressed like an
English soccer mom of sorts with her own mom
at her side. It was noticeable and abit odd, too,
the number of old age pensioners seen visiting
Westfield primarily to look and not to shop
and buy, presumably.
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An Interior View of Westfield Shopping Centre.
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Having spent about an hour inside Westfield, within
the first ten minutes of being there a young brash
security employee stated no photographs were
permitted. Dozen of folkz were photographing inside
the new shopping centre without any fear of being
ordered to stop taking harmless picture. So a nasty
taste of Westfield was immediately left in the mouth
at such a petty policy of anti-photography. Whatever,
be damned or not, there was no reason not to continue
taking whatever photos were needed to tell the story
herein of The Westfield Shopping Mall. Such, then,
are seen here of the images presented of the in-
side and outside of The New Temple of Greed
after being told not to take photographs. To
hell with such small-minded idiots.
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And so now let us worship and take home with
you the lifeless goods that gives you a sense of
earthly paradise. If not that, then a feeling of
momentary happiness despite the credit crunch
and the coming recession (that's already here
for many) and the impending joblessness for
millions of British folkz to bite their teeth on with
distress and anger. Those Westfield shopping
bagz will then soon look like a waste of time
and, of course, a big waste of money. True.
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Regards to everybody, Uncle Monty.
+Third Sunday Before Advent, 2oo8.
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Not Quite Westfield ...
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