Westfield London has beaten the Chelsea and Knightsbridge retail centres to the top spot of a ranking of the top 500 centres.

Westfield London has been ranked as the best shopping centre

The Vitality Index, put together by retail property adviser Harper Dennis Hobbs, sets out to measure the quality of retail provisions in a centre. It ranked Dudley, Llanelli and Morecambe as the bottom of the 500 centres included in the research.

Shopping mall Westfield London, which has a potential retail spend of £2.3bn (calculated using the disposable income of the total number of people who visit the centre each year), came top of the table after being handed a vitality score of 312 out of a potential 400.

In contrast, Dudley, Llanelli and Morecame received scores of five, eight and nine respectively.  

Small centres that ranked highly included Richmond, Islington and Chiswick in the inaugural study that will be published each quarter.

Harper Dennis Hobbs head of retail consultancy Jonathan de Mello said: “This key new metric enables retailers to assess which centres are growing fast in terms of the quality of retail, and as such where trading performance can be maximised.

“No retailer should ever open in a location purely based on market size. The best performing retailers plan their expansion by evaluating the quality of retail centres and the suitability of the centre to their brand.”

Harper Dennis Hobbs is attempting to move away from ranking centres on vacancy rates alone and takes into account the type of retailer in a centre along with pure levels of occupancy.

Vitality was measured by factors such as the proportion of premium retail in the centre along with the presence of “out of fashion” retail tenants, which includes charity shops, pawnbrokers, payday loan stores, betting shops, bingo halls and e-cigarette shops.

The top 50 retail centres

HDH Vitality RankingRetail CentreHDH Vitality Score (0-400)HDH Retail Spend Potential HDH Retail Spend Potential Rank
1Westfield London 312£2,265,528,49813
2Chelsea290£795,283,82998
3Knightsbridge261£675,270,025128
4Canary Wharf254£563,390,481149
5Brent Cross 246£1,501,294,06136
6Richmond244£413,187,352195
7Cambridge 240£1,465,236,49539
8Bluewater 236£1,960,572,59417
9Kensington208£701,930,527116
10Bath208£1,289,255,12450
11Guildford205£1,365,457,81747
12London West End201£8,470,734,8071
13Kingston upon Thames201£2,127,365,50714
14Westfield Stratford 200£1,954,050,29818
15Cribbs Causeway197£1,108,296,60062
16Islington - Upper Street193£245,431,754293
17Edinburgh 191£2,297,048,68212
18St Albans186£499,029,364164
19Trafford Centre180£1,834,021,39924
20Harrogate180£815,709,87596
21Chichester179£693,839,884121
22Brighton 176£1,836,819,26823
23Meadowhall 175£1,801,190,16926
24Oxford173£1,444,976,02341
25Chester171£1,644,201,12229
26Chiswick166£261,105,176279
27Manchester 165£3,424,696,6674
28Sevenoaks163£123,115,413382
29Leeds 163£3,062,899,9745
30Wilmslow162£202,907,794334
31Hampstead161£101,789,161394
32Lakeside 159£1,622,017,82630
33Liverpool 159£3,029,719,2196
34Marlow159£72,187,145404
35Winchester159£410,707,986197
36York159£1,356,202,84848
37Tunbridge Wells158£1,113,434,06661
38Bristol - Queens Road157£105,359,383392
39Bristol 155£2,095,123,24715
40Clapham155£497,891,543165
41Cheltenham154£889,872,40386
42Canterbury152£972,588,59175
43Ocean Terminal 150£115,724,520386
44Windsor149£485,783,631168
45Solihull145£1,050,130,68067
46Lymington144£173,041,448349
47Cardiff141£2,746,380,2128
48Metrocentre140£1,517,571,70633
49Walton-on-Thames140£88,250,710397
50Beverley138£270,520,870272

The bottom 50 retail centres

HDH Vitality RankingRetail CentreHDH Vitality Score (0-400)HDH Retail Spend Potential HDH Retail Spend Potential Rank
451Bootle29£140,430,567368
452Bognor Regis29£223,384,622319
453Paignton29£219,275,655322
454Chester-le-Street28£220,685,916321
455Bridlington28£240,634,251300
456Hinckley28£304,001,403257
457Dunstable28£227,676,040316
458Redcar28£229,682,651314
459Beeston28£146,627,329364
460Gosport28£165,275,333355
461Glasgow - Parkhead28£603,833,444138
462St Austell27£264,734,450277
463Ashford (Kent)27£477,898,449170
464Wembley27£91,816,607395
465Glenrothes27£264,213,242278
466Clacton-on-Sea26£344,520,303229
467Barry26£75,526,124403
468Rhyl26£277,913,626268
469Peterlee26£107,804,571389
470Evesham26£247,126,322290
471Southampton - Shirley25£216,043,052323
472Haverfordwest25£247,125,427291
473Paisley25£315,094,762250
474Blackwood25£209,250,715328
475Accrington24£320,346,891247
476West Bromwich24£425,682,531190
477Bournemouth - Boscombe24£286,440,248266
478Long Eaton24£236,394,402306
479Letchworth24£221,183,339320
480Retford23£165,524,247354
481Ilkeston23£269,456,571273
482Dewsbury23£333,958,656238
483Rotherham23£460,029,473176
484Wallasey (Liscard)23£125,848,354375
485Arnold23£172,679,710350
486Newport (Wales)23£733,420,442111
487Stockton-on-Tees22£395,273,992205
488Edinburgh - Leith22£3,239,093414
489Aldershot21£401,655,127201
490Folkestone21£363,001,712218
491Stoke-on-Trent - Longton20£123,414,407381
492Ramsgate19£227,302,963317
493Stroud19£204,316,802332
494Brighton - London Road17£123,646,799380
495Bristol - Bedminster16£120,688,611385
496Dover13£257,666,949284
497Ellesmere Port12£130,487,947372
498Morecambe9£76,743,232402
499Llanelli8£237,206,935304
500Dudley5£412,650,898196