The city offers some of the best retail destinations in Essex, with everything within a handy walking distance of the city centre. Two great shopping centres in Chelmsford sit within the centre itself, jam-packed with both big brand names and independent shops, as well as a great selection of places to grab drinks and a bite to eat.
Shopping centres in Chelmsford
High Chelmer
Cote Brasserie
Meadows Shopping
High Chelmer Shopping Centre is a large shopping hub, just five minutes from our City Centre hotel, with over 80 outlets, including Boots, The Body Shop and River Island. It’s also home to specialist stores, such as Bang & Olufsen, a fine-art shop and even a Tottenham Hotspur football store. There’s plenty of seating for weary shoppers to take a break if you have aching legs. With a variety of stores for all customers – from Primark to the nearby John Lewis – within Chelmsford’s city centre, it’s fast becoming a destination for those looking for a day out shopping. The pedestrianised high street, city centre streets, complete with a market, and these two central shopping centres provide plenty of options.
You could spend your whole day and night exploring the High Chelmer Shopping Centre – it also offers 11 cafés and restaurants, including Côte Brasserie and Queenies Coffee Shop, which both come highly recommended. It even contains Evoke, one of Essex’s biggest nightclubs. It’s the place to be on the dancefloor until the early hours.
The centre is open 7am to 6.30pm most days during the week, with shorter hours on a Sunday. However, some outlets will have individual opening hours. There’s a multi-storey car park right next door for short stays up to four hours, or it’s an easy stroll from the train and bus stations in the city centre.
On the High Street and only a couple hundred metres away, you’ll also find Meadows Shopping Centre. It’s the smaller shopping centre of the two, with 40 restaurants and specialist stores including jewellers, bookshops, hairdressers and fashion boutiques. Food options include Giraffe, Wildwood, Faces Kitchen & Bar and BB’s, a great coffee shop with amazing muffins. The market is also located right outside on Fridays and Saturdays. There’s even an eight-screen Odeon cinema, so all your entertainment is under one roof.
A spacious car park with 480 spaces is also available in this shopping hub, and the centre is open most days from 9am-5.30pm, with varying weekend hours. It’s a well-located base from which to explore the city centre and also a great spot to eat or relax along the river.