Metro Centre, located in Gateshead, is the largest shopping centre in the European Union. The original land was bought by Cameron Hall developments for the sum of £100,000 and later sold to the CSC for £364,000,000, with the Church Commissioners getting 10% of the sale value.
It opened on the 14th October 1986, constructed with finance from the Church of England Commissioners, and was thought of by former Newcastle United Chairman and current President Sir John Hall, through his Cameron Hall developments.
It was also home to Metro Land, which was a indoor themepark (the largest in Europe), until its closure in 2008.
The transport links to the Metro Centre are quite extensive, buses run from city centres on a regular basis and due to the route they take they have only 3 stops, making them express services. The route itself serves many areas, therefore it suffers a lot from congestion, however it was modified to 3 lanes of traffic to help alleviate this problem.
The Metro Centre also has a massive Odeon cinema, with a VIP service and also an IMax screen which is very popular with those visiting. The cinema took the place of Metro Land which closed due to apparent lack of demand, however this proved to be unfounded as many customers were left furious at the decision to close this.