Big stores get the keys as new Westfield is set to open in September

Construction of the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre is set to be completed on time next month with about 80 per cent of the space already let to retailers and restaurants.

The Australian developers are putting the finishing touches to their second London mall, which is due to open in mid-September, three and a half years after work started.

Its sister mall, Westfield London, opened in Shepherd's Bush at the end of October 2008.

Industry sources say September 13 has been pencilled in as the Stratford launch date.

Two "anchor" tenants, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis, as well as the Vue cinema operator, have been handed the keys to their space in the mall to prepare it for opening.

The other near 300 tenants in what will be Europe's biggest urban shopping centre will be able to move in next month. They include Waitrose, Esprit 21, H&M, River Island and Topshop.

There will also be a food market and three hotels with a total of 617 rooms in the 1.9 million sq ft development next to the Olympic Park.

Stratford City will be the only major shopping development between the West End and the out-of-town malls at Lakeside in Essex and Bluewater in Kent.