To think, get rid of the driving restrictions, make parking easier and watch Oxford Street flourish 🤷‍♀️

Cities have to evolve, private car ownership in london is falling

I have owned a car in London for 22 years and it has never, ever occurred to me to try to or to want to drive to Oxford Street.

Are you also proposing to get rid of the congestion charge and ULEZ as well as magic up non-existent parking spaces and not charge for them?

I am not au fait with disability provision but prepared to be educated in that regard. Other than that, I think your proposal, even if possible, would make Oxford Street worse not better. I think a well-done pedestrianisation scheme could make a huge difference though. It is not very relaxing to walk down at the moment, too crowded. I might be tempted to go there more often if I could stroll a bit more and grab a coffee and watch the world go by.

I would personally be extremely sad about anything that encouraged more cars onto London roads as would I imagine anyone who values clean air. e.g. there are estimated to be 600,000 asthmatics in London.

Things that put me off Oxford Street are; Extremely loud religious preachers, Extremely loud gatherings of rip off 3 wheeler tuk tuks (which most tourists know are a rip off because they've appeared in virtually all tourist cities worldwide), lack of interesting food outlets, American candy shops, lack of interesting small shops. The only thing that makes is more pleasant now is the fact that it's less congested with cars. It would be awful if there was a permanent traffic jam with private cars and the smell a choking on traffic fumes whilst browsing would be more off putting

You can keep repeating that all you want, but that doesn't make it any more true though, as is clear from the poll.

C&A widely known as Cheap and Awful (or Coats and 'Ats)

So upmarket.

My mum and I once looked at a coat in Dickens & Jones. It was a bit tight and I asked if they had a 14.
"Oh, you won't find a 14. Not in London."
Oh how we laughed.

I still don’t understand why you just don’t go on a Sunday? Loads of free parking on the streets.

People like shopping but they don't want to travel

Presumably they are also fond of breathing, something that isn't facilitated by increasing traffic.

No. Congestion is what puts me off driving into cities London has a fantastic public transport system

Over half of londoners is a lot of londoners tbf

households, not people

4 people in a household might have access to 1 car

Go on a Sunday. Free parking on all the side roads, I’ve never not got a space. You’d still have to pay congestion charge though so it’s still expensive.

there are lots of blue badge provisions too, I’m surprised you’ve found it difficult as my neighbour always drives in. Four hours parking and you can park almost anywhere.

For most people public transport is easier. Pollution is horrendous, why would we want to make it worse. It takes me 20 mins on public transport or an hour to drive.

We don't need more cars in London. It's already congested.

46 % of households in lower noon don’t have access to a car, that leaves just over half with access to a car - that’s not “ lots” of Londoners

it’s quicker to cycle across London- top gear proved that 16 years ago n

driving in cities is just bonkers unless you have to

e en trades people have moved away from vans where they can

I lived in East London until recently, with a car, and literally never found that I wanted to drive to Oxford St. The congestion charge would have been off-putting but also it would just be much easier by public transport. I'm just not sure this 'demand' is really a thing.

I lived a few minutes from soho and I don’t think I have ever done any serious shopping in Soho apart from alcohol. Where are the serious shops?

NCP will have either paid huge amounts of money for the land for the car park or have leased it also for huge amounts of money. They won't be giving away free parking on Saturday afternoons or even cheaper parking beyond blue badge rates. If nobody paid their rates the car park would be empty and it's not.

Are you suggesting on street parking on/around Oxford Street?. That's the only way someone with difficulty walking distances would be able to get from shops at one end to the other. Park in a bay, go in Shop A. Leave get in car drive down to another Bay park go in shop and leave again. Repeat as necessary. Is there a huge demand to go to John Lewis followed by Matalan and Boots on Oxford Street? Are people longing to browse the Nespresso store then check out if it's cheaper at Currys or Selfridges. People do it online now. I literally cannot think of why I'd specifically chose Oxford Street now over either shopping online or going to a smaller local branch of the chains they have.

It's already difficult to manage traffic Vs humans just with buses and taxis driven by people professionally who risk losing their jobs if they drive aggressively etc. Add in impatient people in private cars and you'd see accidents rocket. Plus the pollution levels would climb again while most people are in non EVs.
That's one of the reasons people often go to shopping centres/malls. No traffic going through the middle of it so it's easier to get around. Even malls are struggling and are no longer just retail but adding in experiences like bowling or escape rooms etc. Adding parking spaces to Oxford Street isn't going to change the way things look for high street retail

This is the most insane take I’ve seen about London on here.

All the places that have been done up nicely and people now want to visit over the last 30y are because they’re pedestrianised. Look at granary square/coal drop’s yard, Covent Garden, south bank, the strand, Trafalgar Square (north side)…..

Oxford street is a shit hole that takes ages to walk anywhere because pedestrians are crammed in either side and it takes forever to cross any side street. It could be incredible with places to sit and more food outlets/interesting street food. That, and decent flagships of high street brands would bring people in. Cars ruin cities.

The Tottenham Court Road end is, and certainly has been for the last 30 years, full of small shops selling tourist tat

Lived in London my whole
life (nearly 50 years), I'd never drive to Oxford st even without restrictions, it would never be quicker than the tube and I live zone 3. You can drive to Westfield easily already.

Oxford st has always been for teenagers. Real shoppers go to soho and still do.

Are you really a Londoner? There's a mahoosive NCP on Park Lane at the West End of Oxford St and numerous smaller car parks nearby, that you can pre-book on line to ensure a space, but most Londoners I know would rather eat a porcupine than drive across that part of town during the day, anyway, so its a bit moot.
Qualifying disabled Londoners can use Dial-a-Ride, and there's a lot of public transport into that part of town, including some step-free access via tube (admittedly not on all lines).
Honestly the main reason for the flight from Oxford Street and the surrounding area is that retail property and Business Rates are almost prohibitively expensive, which makes it difficult to justify keeping a branch open there. Up until the recent changes, John Lewis was paying £16.5 million a year, just in business rates, never mind rent, staff, security and cost of stock. That reduced to ~ £6.5 million rates per year in 2023., which is still a lot.