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Yes, the rumours are true – Taylor Swift rented out a random London shopping centre for her latest music video.
The pop superstar’s ‘Opalite’ video, which was released last week, is set in the ’90s and features cameos from Graham Norton, Lewis Capaldi, Domhnall Gleeson, Cillian Murphy and Greta Lee. Part of the video sees Taylor and Domhnall Gleeson wandering around a colourful, sparkling shopping mall. That shopping mall, ladies and gents, is Croydon’s own Whitgift Centre.
Not every day Taylor Swift films a video in Croydon’s Whitgift Centre! ✨ pic.twitter.com/ALPef2rmJW
— Sarah Jones MP (@LabourSJ) February 6, 2026
In the video, the Whitgift Centre is decked out with pastel frontages, green plants and neon signs. But if Taylor Swift fans want to visit the set in person, they’ll be bitterly disappointed. In reality, the Whitgift is grey and deteriorating with around 70 empty units. One recent Google review says it’s ‘run down with hardly any shops left’ while another calls it an ‘absolutely dreadful place’
The mall looks so barren in real life that some Americans looked at photos and assumed it was abandoned. But Londoners were quick to correct them and point out that, while it could do with a heavy dose of TLC, the Whitgift Centre is in fact fully operational.
Taylor hun, could you not have left your decorations up? Made the Whitgift Centre much more pretty and looks like it would actually entice customers…#croydon https://t.co/0Da0xt8Tc4
— Sophie Taylor-Denton (@sophie_denton) February 10, 2026
There have been plans to transform the dilapidated centre into a Westfield for more than a decade, but they still haven’t come to fruition. It was initially due to reopen as a new and improved shopping destination in 2017 but the planning application has been pushed back numerous times. Now, it looks as though developers Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield won’t submit a planning application until the middle of 2026. That suggests that, if approved, work wouldn’t begin until 2028 at the earliest.
Taylor Swift’s video isn’t the only starring role that the Whitgift Centre has taken on recently. Rebel Wilson was also spotted filming her upcoming movie Girl Group there back in September.
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