https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/oxford-street-pedestrianised-sadiq-khan-traffic-free-consultation-decision-mayor-b1233250.html

Nothing on Soho or, eve worse, Charing Cross road where there pedestrians have to fight for space to walk while 'traffic' has 3-4 lanes.

by neilt999

29 comments

  5. I would have thought it’d be more sensible doing this between TCR and Oxford Circus, rather than Oxford Circus up to Marble Arch.

  6. But what about my nan’s sister’s brother’s uncle’s doctor’s nephew’s disable ferret? They need access!!

  10. I’ll be honest, I’m dead against it. I mean, people forget that traders need access to Dixons

  11. This will deliver much needed boost for foot traffic to our hard working American Candy, Vape, and general tourist-shite shops 💪

    But seriously, this is great news!

  12. Great news, but waiting for the ‘whataboutism’ from non – Londoners.

  13. >Nothing on Soho

    And now there won’t be much changed with soho imo. Would have been easier for politicians to justify it when they could say traffic can still pass around soho on the main roads as usual so the narrow soho roads can be for pedestrians. But now there is no main boundary road.

    Dunno why Khan was more obsessed with Oxford St over anything else anyway. I actually can’t even think of other places he’s called to be pedestrianised, are there any? I think its just becuase Oxford Street is just the easy smaller scale option despite people making it out to be a game changing thing.

    At the end of the day of the people who don’t currently go to Oxford Street to shop I can’t imagine many more people at all going there to shop after it’s pedestrianised. The shops will largely stay the same becuase at the end of the day it’s not tfl or whoever who gets to decide who the building owners rent to. It’ll continue being the usual boots, touristy/laundering stores, fake Harry Potter stores, etc. But now buses and bikes won’t be going pass as you shop.

    Would have been nice for the massive bus route changes to be included before the consultation too. So many people pass through Oxford Street on buses since there’s such a huge amount of bus routes along it so it seems fairly important to be more clearer about the projected impact of those before doing a consultation. Same for alternative bike routes since bikes will also be banned from Oxford Street when it’s pedestrianised.

    I know this is probably an unpopular opinion but it seems fair. I’d just much rather focus on larger scale pedestrianisation rather than just trying to get Oxford Street pedestrianised for 12 years.

  15. Shame it’s not the Tottenham Court Road side being pedestrianised, the Marble Arch side already has fairly wide pavements. East of Oxford Circus people are sometimes forced to walk in the road.

  16. The Soho Society is going bankrupt, so that is some good news on future Soho pedestrianisation.

    They’re NIMBYs who helped forced back al fresco dining and pedestrianisation when it was implemented over covid. They are rabidly against removing parking spaces or car access. They just lost a court case because they tried to stop a gin microdistillery – they had absolutely no case, it was completely spurious and now have to pay costs: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/soho-society-westminster-council-court-green-room-gin-distillery-fire-risk-b1232832.html

  17. woohoo!!!

    never thought id see this in my lifetime, haha

    bring it on

  21. Honestly I’m quite excited for it, even if it has some teething issues it’s better to try and find out (it is relatively reversible I imagine?)

  22. Presumably the closure of Oxford Street will automatically eliminate a large portion of traffic going north/south through Soho anyway. Rather than pedestrianise Soho they could easily turn it into a large LTN to push through traffic onto Park Lane, Picadilly and charring Cross roads.

  23. When they say they have all these bus routes to re-route which will overwhelm parallel streets, that kind of surprises me. I mean are all those routes along Oxford Street still really needed now there is both Central Line and Elizabeth Line? I thought they were going to reduce the number of busses along Oxford Street when the Elizabeth Line came into service.

  24. just my fucking luck that i move back to Austria after 14 years in London and now they get their shit together

  29. Will it make oxford street less shit? I can’t see it myself

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