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Why is Oxford Street trending?

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Oxford Street is drawing attention across 2 news outlets right now. The reports below are the current coverage, newest first.

The coverage

How will pedestrianisation of UK’s most famous shopping street work in practice?
BusinessThe Guardian

How will pedestrianisation of UK’s most famous shopping street work in practice?

A stretch of London’s Oxford Street is to be vehicle-free as part of £150m government-backed scheme Much of Britain’s most famous shopping street will be closed to traffic from Monday as the long-awaited pedestrianisation of London’s Oxford Street begins. About half of the 1.2 mile street will initially be vehicle-free, after decades of planning and dispute over how to best use the street, an important transport thoroughfare and the home for flagship stores for big shopping chains. Continue reading...

We’ve made Oxford Street traffic-free – and that’s just the start. Soon there’ll be green spaces for arts and music too | Sadiq Khan
BusinessThe Guardian2 outlets

We’ve made Oxford Street traffic-free – and that’s just the start. Soon there’ll be green spaces for arts and music too | Sadiq Khan

We’ll revive the in-person shopping experience with a transformation of the area, inspired by the John Lewis and Selfridges founders who first set up there Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London At around 8pm on Sunday evening the last car made its way down Oxford Street, marking the start of a momentous new era for our nation’s high street. Today, after decades of discussions and deliberations, the action we’ve taken means almost one kilometre of Oxford Street is now officially traffic-free – just in time for Christmas. But this is only the start of a much bigger transformation, and the first step towards a bright new future for this historic thoroughfare. Walk down Oxford Street, and you’re passing through hundreds of years of British history and culture. In 1864, an ambitious young draper called John Lewis opened his first shop on the street. Forty-five years later, the American entreprene

The Guardian view on Oxford Street’s pedestrianisation: cities should be designed around people, not cars | Editorial
BusinessThe Guardian2 outlets

The Guardian view on Oxford Street’s pedestrianisation: cities should be designed around people, not cars | Editorial

The transformation of Europe’s busiest shopping street should be a case study in making cities greener, less congested and more inviting places to live Sadiq Khan has been trying to pedestrianise Oxford Street since he first became the mayor of London in 2016. On Monday, after numerous setbacks, his plan will finally come to fruition. The busiest stretch of the nation’s famous shopping street will be closed to traffic in a scheme designed to improve the area and make it more attractive to pedestrians. It should be an emblematic case study in making cities greener, less congested, more inviting places to live and visit. The Greater London Authority hopes it will rejuvenate a high street fallen on hard times. Since the pandemic, the number of vacant shops on Oxford Street has more than quadrupled . It estimates that the scheme will generate £82m of value a year in the area by increasing fo

Everyone hates Oxford Street. Will pedestrianisation save it?
PoliticsThe Guardian

Everyone hates Oxford Street. Will pedestrianisation save it?

In a few days the busiest shopping street in Europe will be closed to traffic. The hope is that an unloved and polluted thoroughfare will turn into somewhere that people actually want to spend time In February, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced that Britain’s best-known thoroughfare, Oxford Street, would be pedestrianised. To the surprise of every Londoner that I have spoken to in the past few months, it is actually happening. On Monday 26 October, the busiest shopping street in Europe – or, precisely, half of its 1.2-mile stretch – will be closed to traffic, putting an end to several decades of bitter arguments, obstructions and delays. Cars, lorries, vans, taxis, buses, bicycles, ebikes, scooters will be banned. Nothing but pedestrians (and emergency vehicles) will be allowed in. This change will mark the most remarkable transformation to the streetscape of central London sinc

This explainer is written from the reports listed above. Follow any headline for the original coverage.

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