White City is a district in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, north to Sheperd's Bush. It has hosted some major events in the past including Olympic events and World Cup Soccer matches and today, it is the home of the BBC Television Centre.
History
Having been arable farmland up until 1908, White City was used for the Franco- British exhibition and the 1908 Olympic games. It hosted numerous exhibitions until 1912.
White City stadium
The famous White City stadium also existed in White City from 1908 until it was demolished in 1985 to make way for BBc's television centre. The stadium was initially built for the 1908 Olympics.
Olympic Marathon
Interestingly, the stadium was the finishing place of the 1908 Olympic Marathon which had started 26 miles and 265 yards away in Windsor. This distance became mandatory for marathons from this point onwards.
World cup
The stadium hosted a world cup match in 1966 and was briefly the home to local football club Queens Park Rangers.
Most recently, the White City area became a hallmark of shopping as Westfield Shopping mall opened up in 2008.
Westfield
The Westfield group opened up a 270 store shopping centre in the White City area at a cost of £1.6 billion in October 2008. As a result, two new tube stations were opened up to accommodate the number of visitors to the shopping centres with Wood Lane opening on the Gammersmith and City line and Sheperd's Bush on the West London Line.
Criticism against the shopping centre
The shopping centre has suffered from criticism with critics saying that it is taking away trade from nearby Kensington High-Street, although the full impact of the shopping centre has yet to be realised.
White City made famous
White city pops up in popular culture from time to time. North of the shopping centre is a a bus depot which had previously been featured in the 1988 film, 'Who framed Roger Rabbit' as the Acme factory.
The Pogues had a song on their 1989 album, 'Peace and Love' entitled White City'. The song was about the demolition of the White City Stadium. Pete Townshend of 'The Who,' who is a former resident of Sheperd's Bush, had a solo album in 1985 entitled White City: A Novel in which he sung about a story that took place in the White City area.
