Car Park closures at Westfield Stratford City for the Olympics: Westfield Stratford City has announced that all the car parks at the giant Stratford shopping centre will be closed for the next 3 months to allow preparations for the London 2012 Olympics.

From 18 June, all car parks at Westfield Stratford City will be closed to the public and will remain closed until after the Paralympic Games in September. During this time, vehicles will not be able to enter Westfield Stratford City and the current access via Warton Road (off Stratford High Street), Penny Brookes Street (off Angel Lane) and the A12 interchange will be closed. These closures are necessary in order to prepare Stratford for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It will mean the loss of 5,000 parking spaces inside the giant shopping centre and all visitors will now have to use public transport to visit the 300 shops.

Stratford is one of London’s largest station and recent improvements will help the station cope with the increase number of passengers. The Central Line, Jubilee line, DLR and High Speed 1 will also all be running excellent services directly into Stratford and this will be further supported by the existing bus network, London Overground, National Rail, as well as taxis. The closest taxi rank is located at Meridian Square, adjacent to Stratford Regional Station.

Despite the closure of all car parks for 12 weeks, the shopping centre and its bars, restaurants, bowling and casino expect to be busier than ever during the summer.