It was 20 years in the making and the Westfield London Centre opened this morning amid the worst trading conditions retailers have faced in nearly 20 years.

Customers arrived at the west London centre more than an hour and a half before doors opened, to catch a glimpse of the gleaming 43-acre complex, which, with 265 stores and 50 cafes and restaurants, is Europe’s biggest inner-city mall.

Crowds of shoppers thronged the spacious central atrium to catch a glimpse of Leona Lewis, the X Factor star, while others excitedly pointed out the likes of Twiggy and Erin O’Connor, the models who front Marks & Spencer’s advertising campaign. Next, meanwhile, played host to Dannii Minogue.

Frank Lowy, chairman of the Westfield Group, the Australian developer behind the centre, told shoppers at the opening ceremony that he was unconcerned by the timing of the opening.

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He said: “I have 50 years' experience in shopping centres and business cycles come and go and my experience tells me that this cycle shall pass.”

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, emerged onstage as the orchestra reached a crescendo to insist that all was well in the world of retail.

He said: “I was asked on my way in this morning by a reporter whether this was the right time in these dark days of austerity to be opening a shopping centre as big as 30 football pitches and Buckingham Palace.”

He said it was “one of the silliest questions” he had ever been asked.

”Let me ask you the question, with unemployment rising in the UK, is it right that Westfield make an investment of £1.6 billion and create 7,000 jobs?”

He added: “Gordon Brown says to me we’re in a hole. I say to you, we need a hole the size of Crossrail...The essential thing to do is keep digging."

Mr Johnson said he is confident that the high end and luxury retailers will find custom, even during a recession. “I think there are a great deal of people sitting on piles of money out there willing to invest in these shops.”

He also called on BBC executives and entertainers to “disgorge themselves of taxpayers’ money” at the centre, helping “poor and needy children”, adding he was confident that the shopping centre will be here after “this recession, the next recession, and the one after that”.

Earlier, Sir Stuart Rose, executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, was in jovial mood showing reporters around gleaming a new store, one of the five anchor shops with Waitrose, Next, House of Fraser and Debenhams at Westfield.

He said the chain, which unveiled a store with no fewer than four cafes, had got its sums right. He said: “Clearly things are tougher and it will be more difficult than it has been for the last couple of years but I’m optimistic for the longer term.”

He added: “It will take time to get used to it and may take business away from other areas, maybe Oxford Street and Kensington a bit, but we have taken this into account. We believe in total there’s extra business here. And it’s a very important part of developing London.”

Among the shoppers who travelled to London’s latest cathedral of consumerism was Marie Boswell, who had come from Brighton with her two children.

”It’s amazing,” she said. “I haven’t seen anything like it although it’s a bit packed and very difficult to get anywhere.”

Her sister, Caroline Bevan, 41, lives across the A4 from the centre. She said: “It’s about time they’ve done something like this to this part of London. We’ve needed something like this.”

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