By 1971 Basildon Town Centre comprised 70 acres (280,000 m2) and 205 stores of all sizes totalling 1,100,000 sq ft (100,000 m2) of retail space.

It was one of the largest pedestrian precincts in Britain, with entertainment and leisure facilities, an open-air market, car parking for 5,000 vehicles and bus and railway stations.

Its most recent substantial refurbishment was in 2007, at a cost of more than £10m, which included the opening of new toilets and baby care facilities, and replacing lifts, lighting, escalators, floors and fascias, plus a completely redesigned Food Terrace area with expanded seating for around 50% more covers.

Eastgate owners, Infrared Capital Partners, announced in November 2014 that they planned to redevelop the Galleries and upper levels of the shopping centre into a £15 million 15 screen cinema with a scheduled completion date of 2017.

[11] Basildon bus station was opened on its current site Southernhay in 1958 although it only was a double parallel island arrangement and South Walk shops had not yet been developed.

It was created by Rowland Emett in 1981. and was originally placed outside what is now ASDA on the Lower Mall of the shopping centre.

The Mother and Child statue in the Town Square was created by Maurice Lambert and is Grade II listed.

On a wall of Freedom House in East Walk is the oldest piece of public sculpture in the new town: installed in 1957, it is a wire and aluminium relief by the sculptor A. J. Poole titled "Man Aspires".

The town square was re-paved and the building of two retail pavilions, now operated by Toni & Guy and Costa, were completed in 1998.

The late 2000s downturn in the global economy negatively impacted on Basildon Town Centre and a 2013 survey found 31 empty retail units with retailers including KFC, McDonald's[20] Pizza Hut, Adams and Peacocks leaving the Town Centre.

[21] As a result of a period characterized as a "rapid decline" by developers CZWG[22] £1bn regeneration proposals were announced by Basildon Council in 2012.

[27] The council have also purchase Freedom House and bits of East Walk as part of the regeneration plans for a new cinema, with work starting in 2019.

In 1971, ABC opened a two screen cinema, but this closed in 1999[33] and has been converted into a unit for the British Heart Foundation and Flats.

The Edge hosts live and unsigned music nights, arranged by Hippy Joe Hymas of Hayseed Dixie.

Dating from 1962, it was designed by Sir Basil Spence and Anthony B Davies, with Ove Arup and Partners as the structural engineers.

The building was chosen to have a residential function, as opposed to commercial office space, to retain life in the town centre after the shops had closed.

It was conceived as a structure to define Basildon's urban status and to act as marker to identify the Town Centre's location within a largely low-rise settlement set in a flat landscape.

Formerly on the wall of Freedom House is the oldest piece of public sculpture in the new town: installed in 1957, it is a wire and aluminium relief by the sculptor A. J. Poole titled "Man Aspires".

Within the pool is a bronze sculpture and fountain, titled "Mother and Child", by the sculptor Maurice Lambert and dating from 1959.

[39] Sections of Basildon Town Centre, including Brooke House[43] and the raised pool,[44] are Grade II listed.