Developers just want to crush shops and build more living spaces because that’s where they can make money. London is being ruined.
Too many pedestrians from the sounds of it. We should turn it into a NSL dual carriageway to encourage business growth
I imagine they are more likely to close other stores around the country before the Oxford Street ones
>Pandora, Swarovski, Bershka, Urban Outfitters and the flagship River Island store
More vape shops and American candy stores please!
Oxford Street needs to embrace events and hospitality…Selfridges has huge spaces available and their retail traffic is struggling. They need to invest in new ways to bring people in.
I’ve posted my thoughts on this topic on Twitter.
Oxford Street is hell. It should be pedestrianised. That would turn it into a good London destination rather than a miserable trudge past American candy drug money laundering operations.
It needs a heavy overhaul. Pedestrianise and make it a place to go when actually we aren’t shopping on high streets like we did in the 90s.
Currently it’s a dirty, dangerous haven for the world’s criminals. Why go there?
Oxford Street died for me when the huge Zavvi and HMVs closed. I miss those amazing stores dearly. Tower Records is still great but not the same.
Oxford Street is dead already.
I don’t know anyone who has gone there for the past five years.
But, for the love of God, could we please revive it instead of turning it into “shit tourist shops/American candy emporium” central.
Get someone on the case who spent their formative years buzzing down the Top Shop *escalator feeling like it was the best thing in the world ever ever ever..
“Competitive socialising” is a term I hadn’t heard before.
Shame the Standard’s website is so awful I couldn’t read the rest of the article
It competes with Westfield shopping centres which are under cover and require less walking between shops. It needs something to make it distinct from those. And there’s an argument to be made that retailers don’t need more than 1-3 large stores in London.
New era is online unless its in an indoor shopping centre that also has entertainment
Open up Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus stations. I can’t see any visible improvement structurally since I was a kid.
This is such an easy win to pedestrianise it with seating. The rent is astronomical.
It’s seedy as hell. The landlords massively missed a trick by leasing out to anyone who’d pay, and in doing so tanking the brand.
I don’t go there because it’s not pedestrianised and it’s chaotic to navigate even on wide pavements. Alas, Westminster residents will never let up.
I HATE OXFORD STREET!
For the life of me I can’t understand why out shit Mayor doesn’t pedestrianise this area.
It should become the third runway for Heathrow and double up as a live game of frogger
The proposal to bring in some restaurants and social experience type venues sounds a good shout.
I’m always surprised at the lack of good food options and having something other than shops people and traffic could start to go some way towards making it a place people might actually want to exist in.
It’s about 25 years too late to make any meaningful changes. Pedestrianisation would have solved alot of problems long ago, European style cafes, green spaces, sheltered spaces, public toilets etc.
Just make it a main road, increase use for car traffic make it more anti pedestrian. Thats what the council and complainers have wanted all along. Let them have their wish and let the shops crumble.
A lot of pedestrianisation fans here but it is not clear if that would return Oxford Street to its heyday or just lead to countless coffee shops with tables outside and no-one inside, and in 18 months time, to boarded-up former coffee shops.
Notwithstanding the obvious issues around pedestrianisation, we need to accept as a country that the High Street as we once knew it is dead. Its been beaten as a shopping destination by out of town retail and online stores which provide convenient shopping experiences at lower prices, without the hassle.
Making them more communal spaces, with some shops serving either visitors or commuters, with some events is probably the way forward. As well as some apartments to actually bring some life into the place.
People aren’t shopping at Oxford Street anymore because they can barely afford the cheapest online stuff. Whilst the super-rich invest more and more in to assets. Simple as that.
Oxford street is lost to gulf area visitors. It does not feel like a British st to go retail shopping anymore
Pedestrianise it. Would make it a far nicer experience than feeling like a salmon swimming up a canal lock system.
The mayor has done the best he could in the last many years to establish Oxford street as the number one spot for thieves, money laundering establishments and all types of petty crimes possible on god’s green earth! Salute Mr Mayor 🫡
Full pedestrianisation and maybe cycle lanes for each direction. I love going shopping but I dread every time I need to go to any of the stores in that area. Walking there is awful…
Tbh I can’t even remember the last time I bought anything from a shop on Oxford street (or any of the other surrounding streets)
After around 18 years in London I think it’s been hit from a few angles. Firstly, the amount of online shopping in that time and cheaper fashion becoming the norm. ASOS originally, now sites like SHEI…TE.
They’ve also been hit by competition over those years from better bricks & mortar options. Both Westfields, Canary Wharf is busier at the weekend than ever & Battersea is a crowd puller too.
You won’t get rained on, run over by a taxi on that annoying corner onto Great Portland Street, see a pedicab (can we start calling them pedocabs?). Although sadly no Angus Steakhouses. But you can’t have it all.
If I ever needed to go to Oxford Street for something I always made sure I navigated the roads parallel as to avoid the mindless gorping public. Always like a smug prick when I got to my destination through a side street 🤌🏼
I don’t understand what Oxford Street is meant to be for. It’s not classy. It’s not pleasant. The shops are all basic. Nowhere to eat / drink.
Would love to see big tax avoiding brands buggering off and independent traders settling in. But they won’t be able to afford commercial rents.
No great surprise.
Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s you’d head to the west end because of the superior selection of products, variety of stores, many of which you couldn’t find elsewhere. Transport worked pretty well and wasn’t hugely expensive. You could grab a bite to eat from a nice range of places, many independent, and prices were reasonable. You had no worries about being mugged or having swarms or dirt bags doing those horrible ‘surge’ things where they begin looting and terrorising people.
Fast forward to now. Transport is expensive, often filled with anti social people. The shops have a poor product selection and most of the shops are just chain stores. Prices are not competitive. Food outlets are generally overpriced chain stores. It’s stressful to lug your shopping home. It’s just generally an unpleasant experience.
Out of town centers are the way ahead for ‘in person’ shopping. At least you can drive home with your shopping, travel at a far lower cost, and have the option to drive somewhere else for food if the available options don’t suit. You’re far less likely to get mugged. You’ve often got a wider choice of (admittedly chain) stores, which are easier to access, and sheltered from the weather.
Barring Selfridges, there’s no store there that isn’t also in your local shopping centre.
Why trudge around Oxford St to visit stores that are probably no further than 15mins from your house?
Good
they need to force buildings to lower there rates. thats what kills the high streets, nothing online shopping.
when i worked at Urban Outfitters 17-19 in stratford the rent was £10k a month, and that was ‘cheep’ for the centre.
The place needs to be pedestrianised urgently. The paths are roo crowded of an evening/weekend for a casual day out ahopping, and instead feels like fighting your way through crowds of tourists whilst dodging ebikes/scooters.
They need to make it more of a entertainment district, which shopping and events in the day, and resturants/bars to fuel the night life.
Big retailers have been hanging on despite the shops themselves losing money because it’s been good brand PR to have a prestigious Oxford Street shop. That stretch where the shops are all basically giant screens showing adverts is a fucking hellscape. I was walking through that one night in the approach to Christmas with nobody around except empty pedicabs all blaring different deafening music and it chilled me to the depths of my soul. So impersonal, so inhuman.
Well, I look forward to it filing up with bookies and charity shops!
41 comments
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Developers just want to crush shops and build more living spaces because that’s where they can make money. London is being ruined.
Too many pedestrians from the sounds of it. We should turn it into a NSL dual carriageway to encourage business growth
I imagine they are more likely to close other stores around the country before the Oxford Street ones
>Pandora, Swarovski, Bershka, Urban Outfitters and the flagship River Island store
More vape shops and American candy stores please!
Oxford Street needs to embrace events and hospitality…Selfridges has huge spaces available and their retail traffic is struggling. They need to invest in new ways to bring people in.
I’ve posted my thoughts on this topic on Twitter.
Oxford Street is hell. It should be pedestrianised. That would turn it into a good London destination rather than a miserable trudge past American candy drug money laundering operations.
It needs a heavy overhaul. Pedestrianise and make it a place to go when actually we aren’t shopping on high streets like we did in the 90s.
Currently it’s a dirty, dangerous haven for the world’s criminals. Why go there?
Oxford Street died for me when the huge Zavvi and HMVs closed. I miss those amazing stores dearly. Tower Records is still great but not the same.
Oxford Street is dead already.
I don’t know anyone who has gone there for the past five years.
But, for the love of God, could we please revive it instead of turning it into “shit tourist shops/American candy emporium” central.
Get someone on the case who spent their formative years buzzing down the Top Shop *escalator feeling like it was the best thing in the world ever ever ever..
“Competitive socialising” is a term I hadn’t heard before.
Shame the Standard’s website is so awful I couldn’t read the rest of the article
It competes with Westfield shopping centres which are under cover and require less walking between shops. It needs something to make it distinct from those. And there’s an argument to be made that retailers don’t need more than 1-3 large stores in London.
New era is online unless its in an indoor shopping centre that also has entertainment
Open up Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus stations. I can’t see any visible improvement structurally since I was a kid.
This is such an easy win to pedestrianise it with seating. The rent is astronomical.
It’s seedy as hell. The landlords massively missed a trick by leasing out to anyone who’d pay, and in doing so tanking the brand.
I don’t go there because it’s not pedestrianised and it’s chaotic to navigate even on wide pavements. Alas, Westminster residents will never let up.
I HATE OXFORD STREET!
For the life of me I can’t understand why out shit Mayor doesn’t pedestrianise this area.
It should become the third runway for Heathrow and double up as a live game of frogger
The proposal to bring in some restaurants and social experience type venues sounds a good shout.
I’m always surprised at the lack of good food options and having something other than shops people and traffic could start to go some way towards making it a place people might actually want to exist in.
It’s about 25 years too late to make any meaningful changes. Pedestrianisation would have solved alot of problems long ago, European style cafes, green spaces, sheltered spaces, public toilets etc.
Just make it a main road, increase use for car traffic make it more anti pedestrian. Thats what the council and complainers have wanted all along. Let them have their wish and let the shops crumble.
A lot of pedestrianisation fans here but it is not clear if that would return Oxford Street to its heyday or just lead to countless coffee shops with tables outside and no-one inside, and in 18 months time, to boarded-up former coffee shops.
Notwithstanding the obvious issues around pedestrianisation, we need to accept as a country that the High Street as we once knew it is dead. Its been beaten as a shopping destination by out of town retail and online stores which provide convenient shopping experiences at lower prices, without the hassle.
Making them more communal spaces, with some shops serving either visitors or commuters, with some events is probably the way forward. As well as some apartments to actually bring some life into the place.
People aren’t shopping at Oxford Street anymore because they can barely afford the cheapest online stuff. Whilst the super-rich invest more and more in to assets. Simple as that.
Oxford street is lost to gulf area visitors. It does not feel like a British st to go retail shopping anymore
Pedestrianise it. Would make it a far nicer experience than feeling like a salmon swimming up a canal lock system.
The mayor has done the best he could in the last many years to establish Oxford street as the number one spot for thieves, money laundering establishments and all types of petty crimes possible on god’s green earth! Salute Mr Mayor 🫡
Full pedestrianisation and maybe cycle lanes for each direction. I love going shopping but I dread every time I need to go to any of the stores in that area. Walking there is awful…
Tbh I can’t even remember the last time I bought anything from a shop on Oxford street (or any of the other surrounding streets)
After around 18 years in London I think it’s been hit from a few angles. Firstly, the amount of online shopping in that time and cheaper fashion becoming the norm. ASOS originally, now sites like SHEI…TE.
They’ve also been hit by competition over those years from better bricks & mortar options. Both Westfields, Canary Wharf is busier at the weekend than ever & Battersea is a crowd puller too.
You won’t get rained on, run over by a taxi on that annoying corner onto Great Portland Street, see a pedicab (can we start calling them pedocabs?). Although sadly no Angus Steakhouses. But you can’t have it all.
If I ever needed to go to Oxford Street for something I always made sure I navigated the roads parallel as to avoid the mindless gorping public. Always like a smug prick when I got to my destination through a side street 🤌🏼
I don’t understand what Oxford Street is meant to be for. It’s not classy. It’s not pleasant. The shops are all basic. Nowhere to eat / drink.
Would love to see big tax avoiding brands buggering off and independent traders settling in. But they won’t be able to afford commercial rents.
No great surprise.
Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s you’d head to the west end because of the superior selection of products, variety of stores, many of which you couldn’t find elsewhere. Transport worked pretty well and wasn’t hugely expensive. You could grab a bite to eat from a nice range of places, many independent, and prices were reasonable. You had no worries about being mugged or having swarms or dirt bags doing those horrible ‘surge’ things where they begin looting and terrorising people.
Fast forward to now. Transport is expensive, often filled with anti social people. The shops have a poor product selection and most of the shops are just chain stores. Prices are not competitive. Food outlets are generally overpriced chain stores. It’s stressful to lug your shopping home. It’s just generally an unpleasant experience.
Out of town centers are the way ahead for ‘in person’ shopping. At least you can drive home with your shopping, travel at a far lower cost, and have the option to drive somewhere else for food if the available options don’t suit. You’re far less likely to get mugged. You’ve often got a wider choice of (admittedly chain) stores, which are easier to access, and sheltered from the weather.
Barring Selfridges, there’s no store there that isn’t also in your local shopping centre.
Why trudge around Oxford St to visit stores that are probably no further than 15mins from your house?
Good
they need to force buildings to lower there rates. thats what kills the high streets, nothing online shopping.
when i worked at Urban Outfitters 17-19 in stratford the rent was £10k a month, and that was ‘cheep’ for the centre.
The place needs to be pedestrianised urgently. The paths are roo crowded of an evening/weekend for a casual day out ahopping, and instead feels like fighting your way through crowds of tourists whilst dodging ebikes/scooters.
They need to make it more of a entertainment district, which shopping and events in the day, and resturants/bars to fuel the night life.
Big retailers have been hanging on despite the shops themselves losing money because it’s been good brand PR to have a prestigious Oxford Street shop. That stretch where the shops are all basically giant screens showing adverts is a fucking hellscape. I was walking through that one night in the approach to Christmas with nobody around except empty pedicabs all blaring different deafening music and it chilled me to the depths of my soul. So impersonal, so inhuman.
Well, I look forward to it filing up with bookies and charity shops!
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