Recently Mr White roped me into going to Westfield shopping centre at Shepherd’s Bush on a rainy day. I thought it would be a great idea for a post: is it really worth leaving central London to travel to zone 2? Will you miss walking up and down exactly the same streets that you have been for months, if not years on end? Let’s find out.
Quality, Volume and Solo/Groups
Unsurprisingly, the quality at Westfields was exactly the same as it is in central, so don’t expect to go there and find pussy paradise, even if the setting and Costa Coffee flat white make you feel as if you’re walking around an eastern European mall. The volume, on the other hand, was surprisingly high and increased throughout the day; at some times the walkways could easily be a street in central London. I managed to do six sets in just over two hours and Mr White got three, so there is a tonne of scope there for the odd day out. Lastly, in terms of girls on their own or with a friend, there seemed to be less of the former. I can’t say why for sure but perhaps in central there are more people living and/or working in the local area who will pop out on their own. Of course, if you’re up for doing two sets, then this doesn’t affect you.
Timings
I can imagine that the best time of the day to go there would be later on, once people finish work, or on a weekend. It’s the same as out in central, I guess, except that I would expect there to be less of a lunch rush, because the only girls specifically moving around at that time would be girls who work in the shops themselves. However, I can’t see many guys going there on a weekday evening only because of the time taken to travel there, if it happens to be more than it would take them to get to central.
Then there’s the question of what time of year to go: when it’s cold and wet, duh! As I mentioned earlier, some of the walkways become like a street in central London when they are busy, so it’s like Daygaming outside except it’s nice and warm and people walk a bit slower. I’ll take this opportunity to note that I don’t think a guy should Daygame continuously – every single day – and should use a shopping centre like this to continue their streak. I am of the opinion that we should give our brains a rest – just like at the gym, you wouldn’t train your chest every day – and so I would treat a shopping centre like this as the thing to do to shake things up every now and then when the weather is unfavourable. Most of the time, if it’s raining, then that’s my excuse for a day off.
Now we move onto how long you could spend there. The thing that lets Westfield down compared to central London, in my opinion, is that you’re constrained to two floors of which you do laps. In central, you can walk for a long time and still see different sites; it keeps things interesting and fresh. It makes me think that two hours is the most time you could spend there, and perhaps I’m only saying that because I was there for two hours with a wing. Having someone to talk to makes walking those laps a lot of enjoyable. On your own, two hours might be too much and you may only be able to stomach an hour and a half, with a break sandwiched in there.
Amenities, Travel, Layout and Spotlight Effect
Let’s turn our attention to the smaller points, before finishing on some random thoughts. Of course, as a shopping centre, there are a huge amount of places to eat and get coffee from. You’ll have no problems there. There are also tonnes of toilets, which are great news if you’re after a vibe-boosting poo.
Travelwise, you can get there by taking the Central line to Shepherd’s Bush, which is only 20 minutes from Oxford Circus, meaning that in a pinch you could swap your central London session for Westfield if it started raining. If you’re in the mood to enter from the rear, you can also arrive via Wood Lane station via the Circle or Hammersmith and City line.
The layout is interesting enough, with two floors, and a main courtyard in the centre. There are offshoots going away from each corner of the courtyard and so you can loop around each one before returning to the centre. Overall it gives you enough change that you don’t literally feel as if you are walking in circles.
Lastly, there’s the spotlight effect, or lack of, as Mr White pointed out. One of the things you might be concerned about is that because it’s all indoors, that there will be people watching you approach. Fortunately, the place is so big that that is not the case.
Random Thoughts
Temperature: since it is controlled inside the shopping centre, have a thought for what you’re going to wear indoors. Specifically, if you’re going there on a cold, wet and windy day you’ll probably be wearing something bigger and warmer, but once you get inside, you may find it too hot to wear.
Masks: being indoors people feel a greater pressure to wear masks, and even though there is no longer a mask mandate, a lot of shops are “requesting” that you wear one inside. It means that there are more masks than out on the streets.
Fishing: Mr White and I found it hard to find a place to sit and fish. The cafes tend to be enclosed within their own shops and there aren’t many benches or random seats to use. We ended up perching against a rail for a bit, which did the trick, but again this plays on how long you can spend there, given you’ll likely end up constantly moving.
Overall Thoughts
I quite liked Westfield, as it turned out; much more than I thought I would. For a long time whenever someone has said to me “you should try XYZ” I’ve shook my head because I’ve thought that they thought they had just discovered pussy paradise, whereas in reality it would just be a step down from central. Now, Westfield isn’t pussy paradise either, and it is a step down from central, but it’s advantage lies in it being inside and so it poses a change of scenery for a day of poor weather.
Overall, I’m going to give it one out of two thumbs up. Worth a shot on a rainy day, but I wouldn’t make it my main source of Daygame.
Yours unfaithfully,
Thomas Crown
P.S. If you’d like me to go and check out other areas of London and review them for Daygame, let me know by the regular channels, and I’ll consider it.
I offer a range of products and services designed to improve your Game and to help you integrate it into your life. The below supports this blog (which will always be 100% free) and allows me to keep producing content to help you achieve your goals.
> Buy my memoir: my story of how I entered the world of Daygame
> Buy my textbook: deep dive into intermediate Daygame
Thomas Crown PUA 