Forty years on

BRENT CROSS shopping centre in north London was the first American- style mall to open in Europe. Last week it celebrated its 40th birthday and I was chuffed to be part of the festivities.

I was 14 when the portals opened and we thronged through, in wild excitement, gawping at the fountain and marvelling at being part of an experience we had only glimpsed in American movies.

We, the first customers, instantly formed an emotional link with Brent Cross that decades have only tightened.

We met our grandmas for coffee there, made eye- contact with the opposite sex there and bought our baby’s first cot there. “It’s not a shopping centre, it’s a way of life,” was the general consensus.