After five minutes of wandering through the crowds of students, fashionistas and curious locals that filled Westfield on opening day I announced: "I am never shopping anywhere else in London again."

It is a sentiment that traders in small shopping centres in west London have feared would prevail for the last five years.

Like any good Thatcher's child, I like buying and owning things. But I hate shopping and am constantly baffled when I head into central London on a clothes mission that  people actually choose to spend their Saturdays ducking into gutters and dodging buses in Oxford Street.

I now live four stops on the Central Line from Europe's biggest shopping centre. I can hop on the tube, and twenty minutes later, after braving what has always been the windiest and is now possibly the most overcrowded station in London at Shepherd's Bush, I am surrounded by two levels of great restaurants and bigger, better versions of top shops.

As Boris urged us to empty our pockets and help dig the economy out of its current hole a congregation of Britain's top business people, fashion icons, journalists and Westfield top brass watched from three tiers of beautiful white balconies, lined with organ-like wooden slats, lit perfectly by the state-of-the-art roof that was mapped on a computer to best illuminate the cavernous interior.

Westfield truly is a temple to Mammon.

And it was out to dazzle. It tried to stun us into not noticing disabled people could not enjoy the day because the lifts were not working and hoped the champagne bar and pink chandeliers would divert our gaze from the empty glass-fronted spaces in The Village where the big boys are yet to move in - presumably not content to rush merchandising like smaller brands after late finishes on structural work.

My top tip - go to Mary Chocolatier. Owner James, running on adrenaline on Thursday after three hours sleep, has introduced the yummiest chocolate to Britain. And he chose Westfield for his first store.

Have you visited Westfield yet? What did you think? Let us know in the box below