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

What’s so special about Oxford St specifically that it needs saving? It’s just generic shite, nothing special, just bigger floorpsaces. And tourists. Always been that way even before the internet was invented. I do like the Babs Hepworth Winged Figure tho, save that.

According to this BBC article it is: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66533224

And it doesn’t surprise me - they go there because it’s iconic, like Routemasters and Beefeaters. I think international visitors are the reason why lots of other places are popular which the average Londoner wouldn’t touch with a barge pole.

ALL the tourists are found in the two Primark's!
It's always heaving in both branches 😂

I used to live in Central London, didn't have a car because that would be pointless and insanely expensive. Now I live outside of London and drive in and park in Soho on a Sunday, for free. I don't go to Oxford Street specifically because I can't stand it, but easily could.

Agreed , I'm an outlier but I love driving and have very specific family reasons why I do this in London (not to be outing).

But I agree with you. London has some of the greatest public transport available to move around.

I feel like @mumofoneAlonebutokay is basically wanting to bend London's operation to their vision of everything being an out of town retail park with multiple charging bays and a drive-thru "for the kids".

I lived in London for the last 15 years and neither I nor anyone else I knew living there even owned a car, so I'd say Londoners don't really want to drive 🤣

IN 2023 Oxford Street had the second highest footfall of any shopping destinatio in EUROPE.

I think that can't only be wealthy tourists @MumChp

I don't mean to be confrontational @mumofoneAlonebutokay but what on earth are you on about on this thread?

"It's not easy enough to get to imo"

Do you know anything about London, why it is Britain's biggest city, and what streets surround Oxford Street?

Are you suggesting that London magically change its entire character to become like a new town with an out of town shopping park? You know with a Sports Direct, a M&S so everyone can get excited, a Five Guys maybe, a TGIs?

How do you suggest, from an urban planning and roads perspective, that it should be made "easier to get to"?

Please name the roads or the routes which are stopping people from getting there.

I drive around in Central all the time (which is perhaps a bad thing in terms of me using a private vehicle when I could use public transport), but I know that I can park in Harley Street for example, and then walk down.

People should be able to drive in and park for cheap,

If "people" were able to do that, then the parking would be gridlocked. Unless you suggest someone buying up extremely expensive land, and building a massive car park, then this will not change.

Cheap = more people using it, less provision. More expensive = more likely that spaces will keep moving.

with a clear bus route to get to Oxford street

The areas very close to Oxford Street are served by about 20 bus routes. I mean, you couldn't get a more busy bus area.

What you're suggesting is a park and ride which is patently ridiculous. Where will this be built in London? Who will fund it? Why should anyone fund it when you can get multiple Tubes, buses and even bikes to the area?

YABVU

Who wants tocas a family? The shops are not aimed at families.
Isn't it mostly aimed at wealthy tourists?

What shops would you even want to shop in? There’s nothing there anymore, it’s all generic crap. Selfridges, John Lewis and that’s about it. They would do much better to pedestrianise and remodel the whole area. It’s horribly polluted as it is - I used to work behind John Lewis - incentivising more traffic would be appalling for the environment and would make it twice as long to get from one end to the other. I used to regularly get the bus home and that part of the journey took three times as long as the bit from Holborn to Shoreditch which was a much further distance. You couldn’t pay me to shop there frankly.

Oxford St has been shite for as long as I can remember.

I definitely think it would be nicer if it was pedestrianised (as would most of London).

If you want to go shopping there are far better places to go, and have been for years

@mumofoneAlonebutokay do families really want to do a "day out" to Oxford St though?

The majority of people do just use the tube or the buses.

So I'm not convinced access is the issue - it's what's on offer that draws people in.

Also, why have a road when you could do this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharijnesingel
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/17/seoul-cheonggyecheon-motorway-turned-into-a-stream

But, yeah, crack on with more cars.

Also the Elizabeth line that stops at Bond st is fully wheelchair accessible.

No-one wants to drive to Oxford Street and I have never known anyone to drive to Stratford Westfield. The last thing we need is more cars.

Hmmm no, I don't think so. Online shopping has done for Oxford Street.

High streets everywhere need cheaper rents and free parking facilities to compete with online shopping. At the moment a delivery fee is cheaper than an hours parking in many places.

I'd love high streets to be as enjoyable as they were in my teens. These days they are sad affairs with little to encourage people to them and having to pay a small fortune to do so in parking. My local town parking has gone up to £6 for four hours!

It will vary depending on your starting point but this pretty much does exist already.
People drive and park at edge of London car parks and tube or bus in.

Online shopping and money laundering fronts are what are ruining Oxford Street. If anything, pedestrianising it and making it a pleasant relaxing place to be would improve prospects, rather than having constant awful traffic meaning you can't easily cross the street and are dealing with all the fumes and beeping horns.

Love the idea of pedestrianising Oxford St, would make pavements much less crowded and easier to cross back and forth. I think the proposal is not to have have cycle ways on it which I support as a cyclist as long as the routes either side are safe. Makes sense to completely pedestrianise it so people can wander about and ideally some outdoor seating etc.

i don’t at all agree most Londoners want to drive. Most Londoners want less pollution, more space to walk and socialise and feel safe (not getting almost run over by speeding cars). In fact most don’t have a car, I don’t and I’m a Londoner too. I don’t see why we should give others the privilege of storing their private property on our public spaces. I wouldn’t dream of driving into central London and never did even when I owned a car. If those who can walk, cycle and take public transport do then there’s less congestion for people that can’t do that and need to drive. Nothing stopping you from driving and parking in Soho or surrounding streets. It’s not like you can park on Oxford st as is so nothing really changes for you other than not being able to drive the length of it, not like you can park outside M&S, get back in and drive up to Boots right now?

Several studies also show that walkers and cyclists are likely to spend more money on high streets. It’s a fallacy that people who drive spend all the money - they drive to retail parks usually. Oxford St like most high streets rely on passing, impulse purchases. And Oxford Street is also for tourists, most of whom aren’t driving.

@mumofoneAlonebutokay https://www.q-park.co.uk/en-gb/cities/london/park-lane/

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