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![\"Bustling](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Oxford-St-e1781012538582.jpg\")
\t\tLONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 6: Christmas shoppers are seen on Oxford street on December 6, 2024 in London, England. UK retail sales figures during the Christmas period are forecast to reach a peak at \u00a388.3 billion this year. (Photo by Peter Nicholls\/Getty Images)\t<\/p>\n
The Square Mile has reinvented itself in recent years, but West End politicians must stop blocking common sense if Oxford Street has a chance of mimicking the City\u2019s success, says Andrew Teacher<\/p>\n
Back when Netflix was still posting DVDs through letterboxes, the \u00a36m Marble Arch Mound would have handed the writers of Brass Eye and The Thick of It a field day. The \u201ctourist attraction\u201d Westminster Council botched together in 2021 became a laughing stock within days, before the same Conservative administration quietly spent a further \u00a3660,000 tearing it down<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, having handed those same Conservatives back control of Westminster<\/a> last month, common sense has again been sacrificed on the altar of local nimbyism as the Mound Man (leader Paul Swaddle) comes after Oxford Street. Having abandoned his judicial review<\/a> threat on legal advice, Swaddle is still fighting to kill off the Mayor\u2019s pedestrianisation plans for the street. They have the potential to restore its fortunes, helping make the street safer, more accessible and above all, more economically productive. Swaddle should listen to the many Tories privately sinking their heads in their hands and give it up. Playing party politics with London\u2019s recovery helps no one. Surely tackling moped gangs and shoplifters is more important than rows over pavements and planters? Myopic thinking, infighting and political posturing have become national if not global diseases with politics. Brands with the power to speak up should use their voices carefully to do so.<\/p>\n The sorry saga sits in perfect contrast to the City\u2019s recent revival. While it may lack the sweaty sordidness of West End\u2019s theatres and music venues, it\u2019s not short of drinking dens. And under the stewardship of the City Corporation, the Square Mile has been deliberately prised open beyond the nine-to-five. Tired offices are being turned into hotels and co-living, with iconic new developments now thriving in the shadows of St Paul\u2019s and Bank. Tom Sleigh, the City\u2019s fresh-faced planning chair, is the kind of pro-growth pragmatist London \u2013 nay the UK \u2013 needs. He pounds the streets with conviction for building and channelling in global investment \u2013 and he knows that this requires being collaborative, not combative.\u00a0<\/p>\n The proof is in the numbers, with Knight Frank reporting London\u2019s strongest year for office leasing since 2019<\/a>. Under the reins of CIO John Mulqueen, a much-loved veteran of the London City offices, Canary Wharf has been increasingly snapping at the heels of everyone to its west wooing back many big banks.<\/p>\n The key thing is that there\u2019s a spirited recognition of the economic weight the Square Mile shoulders. And while weekends once felt like the deserted London of 28 Days Later, City haunts now draw almost three times the footfall they did in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who owns Oxford St?<\/p>\n The West End is in danger of taking all this for granted. Although it seems somehow immune to global crises, one challenge remains: Oxford Street\u2019s fractured ownership. This is the very reason why Westminster council should support Oxford Street redevelopment; not waste public cash blocking it.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tLondon local election results 2026: Labour lose Westminster as Tories take control\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Oxford Street has never milked the benefits of single ownership enjoyed by surrounding areas meticulously managed by great estates like Grosvenor (Mayfair\/Belgravia), the Crown Estate (Pall Mall, Regent Street), Howard de Walden (Marylebone), Shaftesbury Capital (Covent Garden) and Soho Estates. Splintered across dozens of freeholders, the sorry mix of shell companies and sweet shops has seen Oxford Street branded a \u201cnational disgrace\u201d in some camps.<\/p>\n But with workers back at their desks and shopping more resilient than doom-mongers feared, the broken teeth of vacant units are largely filled. But it feels like the street \u2013 and its landlords \u2013 have clawed their way back in spite of local politics and an increasingly ham-fisted approach to business rates.<\/p>\n This is exactly why the Oxford Street Development Corporation set up last January<\/a> matters. Sadiq Khan deserves credit for creating the steward the West End sorely needs. And with Scott Parsons, a much-loved veteran of listed property from Westfield and Landsec, as chairman, it\u2019s in safe hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n To the surprise of some of his critics, Khan\u2019s pledge to defend bars from the Soho Society\u2019s decision to oppose every new<\/a>, as the Guardian reported<\/a>, is welcome. But it shouldn\u2019t be needed.<\/p>\n Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, polar political opposites, understood that a thriving London lifted everyone. They championed the place accordingly, as did Westminster\u2019s legendary former leader Sir Simon Milton until his tragic passing in 2011.<\/p>\n Some politicians, though, would happily drag us back to the days of Blockbuster Video. Rather than blocking progress, their energy would be far better spent on homelessness or, heaven forbid, helping to make streets safer and more accessible. Like Oxford Street traffic in the near future, political posturers should just get out of the way.<\/p>\n Andrew Teacher is co-founder of Lauder Teacher<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n