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

[mumofoneAlonebutokay]

Just that really

https://metro.co.uk/2025/01/28/oxford-street-suffers-fatal-blow-multiple-retailers-announce-leaving-22447406/

How many shops are closing in Westfield, both branches? Londoners want to drive.

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.

Stratford Westfield is always packed with cars whenever I've gone

I hate it personally and prefer the west London Westfield, but both are packed

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.

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

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

😅 I'd say yes, as much as they want a day out to any other shopping destination

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.

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

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

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 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 🤣

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 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.

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

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.

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.

Fair enough.
Then we lived in London we would never go there for shopping. And would never drive there.

Town centre high streets possibly but Oxford Street? It's accessible by numerous tube stations and bus routes. I can't imagine why anyone would want to drive there.

The idea people that people would drive in from Essex and Kent to shop on Oxford Street if the parking was better is mental.

There are countless, far quicker, accessible, ways to Oxford Street.

The problem with Oxford Street is, IMO:

• Increasingly feels unsafe due to pickpockets etc. I’ve had stuff stolen out of my pram there - never happened anywhere else
• Unbearably large number of people make it a miserable experience. I go with some regularity for the big department stores as often nearby with work, and even doing that at midday on a Tuesday it’s unbearable.
• Rents are high and so many shops have abandoned their sites there
• So many units just cheap shops or duplicates (how many Uniqlos can one city possibly need)
• Popularity of other more upmarket shopping zone eg Covent Garden

Oh also the homeless / begging situation is extraordinary. Don’t really fancy navigating 200 men begging for money, crutches, injuries, bare feet, blatant drug taking etc while shopping with the kids.

They pretty much made the Elizabeth Line have stops along Oxford Street to make it more accessible. The Elizabeth Line is fully step free.
So it's been done for you already @mumofoneAlonebutokay .

Why drive to Oxford Street when you can easily get there by cab or public transport?

I mean, I was just starting a light hearted debate about the state of Oxford street 😬😄

Yes I'm suggesting that there be more and cheaper parking to encourage people into Oxford street

I don't want to change london, at all, unlike loads of you who want to pedestrianise it

I think that cars aren't going anywhere and we should do more to encourage people to shop on Oxford street - that means encouraging the average spender in to shop

So many people are put off by the faff of going to Oxford street, including myself

Yes we have the best bus network snd that isn't going anywhere either but I do think a compromise could be made

I think encouraging families and shoppers from londons surrounding areas, with more cheap parking and clear routes to Oxford street would boost the retail sector

Cab is too expensive

Our high street used to be so good with fashion you couldn't get in other countries but people want cheap & everything is homogeneous.

To keep it iconic, brits need to keep going 😪

It needs cleaning up and rents sorting as well, hard agree there

But people would come if it was easier to deal with

Us londoners love the tube, I did as a teen and driving wasn't even on my radar

But taking one or more kids in shouldn't be a one off day out, it should be encouraged

I'd run an ad campaign, with a come in and shop message to families in the surrounding areas