Battersea Power Station announces today that it will open its doors to the public for the first time in history from Friday 14th October 2022.
(Picture: Handout)Battersea Power Station is to reopen in October as a leisure destination with a range of shops and a new high street for Londoners to explore.
The Grade II listed building has been restored and repurposed - while keeping some of its rich history - after it was decomissioned and shut down in 1983.
An opening date of October 14 was announced on Thursday.
Shoppers will be able to visit a selection of both high end and affordable clothing brands and a new bookstore.
In 2023, a food hall will also open. Also opening inside the Power Station will be a host of entertainment venues.
A chimney lift experience is also offering 360-degree panoramic views of London’s skyline. Ten golden tickets have been hidden inside ‘Power Station Post’ newspapers being handed out by a group dressed in 1930s attire on Thursday morning, with the winners getting the chance to be one of the first to ride the lift.
Shops will be housed inside the power station’s two restored Turbine Halls. Turbine Hall A reflects the Art Deco glamour of the 1930s when the power station was built, and Turbine Hall B, which was completed in the 1950s, has a brutalist, industrial look.
The power station’s former control rooms - that managed the distribution of power from Carnaby Street to Wimbledon - have been repurposed into an events space and an “all-day bar concept”, where patrons can interact with the original dials and controls.
Simon Murphy, CEO of Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC), said:”It is a historic moment for the capital with many Londoners having travelled past this gargantuan edifice all their lives, wondering whether they would ever be able to step foot inside - and now they will.
“This is the culmination of a 40-year-journey, from decline to decay, to rack and ruin and now restoration, revival and rejuvenation with a new community being formed and thousands of jobs being created. The icon is reborn.”
At its peak, the power station supplied a fifth of London’s electricity, including to Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. Its transformation is part of a £9 billion regeneration project of the area, including more than four thousand homes, a new NHS facility and 19 acres of public space.
A mix of bars and restaurants already open in Circus West Village, the first chapter in the regeneration of Battersea Power Station.
Office space and 254 residential apartments have also been built into the power station.
Outside the historic building, a new high street for the local community will also open on October 14, named Electric Boulevard.
Situated on this will be a 164-room hotel from art’otel, the brand’s first hotel to open in the UK. There will be even more bars and restaurants, office space, shops, a park and community space.
High street brands such as M&S Foodhall and Zara will be opening on Electric Boulevard later this year.
Once the 42-acre project has been completed, it is expected to provide more than 17,000 jobs and inject £20 billion into the economy.
With investment pouring into the area, the Northern Line has been extended so that Battersea Power Station has its own Zone 1 underground station - just 15 minutes from the West End.
It’s hoped the new complex will draw in tourists and become one of London’s top destinations.
The Battersea Power Station development is owned by a consortium of Malaysian investors, with commercial assets within the building now directly owned by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and EPF.
