Lakeside opened on 25 October 1990 and remains the regional retail anchor for south Essex and beyond; its four main anchors are JD Sports, Next, Marks and Spencer and Primark. It is owned by SGS UK Retail, which took control after Intu Properties went into administration in 2020.
The centre is actively reshuffling: Next moved into the former House of Fraser unit in July 2025 and JD Sports moved into the former Marks and Spencer space in autumn 2025, so retail and hospitality tenants around Lakeside are in a period of churn.
Thurrock's wider economy is built on the Thames: the Port of Tilbury, DP World London Gateway, Purfleet Freight Terminal and the West Thurrock industrial belt make this the logistics and distribution heartland of south Essex, with a dense base of haulage, warehousing, plant hire and trade suppliers.
Lakeside competes directly with Bluewater across the Thames in Kent, which keeps pressure on the surrounding retail and leisure businesses.
Thurrock and Lakeside had a recorded population of about 176,000 at the 2021 census.