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London’s most famous shopping street, Oxford Street, suffers from congestion and declining popularity.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan is planning to turn the street into a partial pedestrian street.
Previous attempts have fallen due to opposition from local politicians.
Diverting traffic elsewhere would in turn congest nearby streets.
Jace Tyrrell, director of Opportunity London, which develops London, emphasizes the importance of finding a balance.
Cry do you want to go to Oxford Street, the most famous shopping street in London?
Oxford Street is crowded, noisy and dirty.
In the crowded sidewalks, half a million people push each other a day. Half of them are staring at their cell phones. The hard corners of shopping bags block the calves of those walking in front.
The lanes are blocked. Buses, taxis and cars crawl forward. You would be there by walking.
There are bike lanes, but you can hear swearing. Once again, some unlucky tourist almost fell short.
Even many of the shops on Oxford Street are in shambles these days. The general impression is cheap and dreary.
Get out of here.
Vague Candy Shops have taken over many properties on Oxford Street.
Before so famous Oxford Street is now in decay.
“Once upon a time, Oxford Street offered the best possible location for British retail. The last decade has been a down time,” the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced in September.
However, the situation is about to change – at least if the mayor’s new plan goes through.
Khan has launched a facelift for the parade route. The western part of Oxford Street, which is more than a kilometer long, is to be turned into a pedestrian street:
The goal is for Oxford Street to become “the world’s leading shopping street” again.
Observation photo of the conversion of the west end of London’s Oxford Street into a pedestrian street. Selfridges department store on the left. The image has already been created as a basis for the previous, i.e. 2017, plans.
Yet no need to celebrate as Khan has tried the same before.
Most recently, the project fell through the opposition of the district council. The main argument against it was that diverting traffic to nearby streets would unduly inconvenience the residents of the area.
Now the support for the Labor mayor is given by Britain’s new Labor government.
Some of the Oxford Street companies are also behind Khan. The renewal of London would not be successful without private investments.
Also Britain’s new finance minister Rachel Reeves is hard to remind that Britain needs economic growth, which in turn requires investment, which requires funding from the private side.
The Oxford Street carriageway is blocked, but there is room for the cycleway.
Walking street conversation In London, it resembles a similar discussion in Helsinki: the interests of motorists and pedestrians are at odds.
The concern of brick-and-mortar stores is the same. Online shopping and remote work have eaten up customers. Consumers have become more fickle.
The scale of London and Helsinki is of course very different. In London, which has a population of almost ten million people, car drivers have other concerns than finding a parking space.
Driving in central London costs 15 pounds or 18 euros per day congestion charge. The use of an old, polluting vehicle also incurs a daily tax of 12.5 pounds, i.e. 15 euros. poison fee.
Should change the shopping streets in the centers to car-free?
CEO of the Opportunity London consortium developing London Jace Tyrrellin according to the question there is no unequivocal answer.
“Walking around the center is of course the best, but you also have to think about the accessibility of services,” Tyrrell said in an interview with HS in September.
The elderly also need to get to the city center, as do service vehicles. Steering cars onto local roads is not a genuine solution to the problem.
“The most important thing is to find a balance.”
Jace Tyrrell heads the Opportunity London consortium, one of whose tasks is to collect foreign investments in the metropolis.
Tyrrell knows Oxford Street well, as he has been working in the area for twenty years.
In his previous job, he was responsible for the development of the Bond Street area on the side of Oxford Street. Old and new Bond Street is known for its expensive fashion stores.
In his current job at the head of Opportunity London, he is responsible for, among other things, attracting international investments to London.
According to Tyrrell, Oxford Street is Britain’s “national high street” and therefore its development is also a national duty.
“It is necessary to reform in order to remain important to customers in the future.”
From here let’s get to the main question: What will the successful shopping street of the future be like?
Somewhat surprisingly, Tyrrell urges us to look back a hundred years.
The ideal is now the shopping street of the old days, where you could find all the essential shops in the village, including the pharmacy, and where people came to meet each other and exchange news.
“We have to go back in order to move forward.”
New versions of old-time shopping streets can already be found in many shopping centers in London, Singapore and Sydney. In addition to shops, restaurants and cafes, consumers now want health, entertainment and cultural services and even teaching and training.
Mere goods are no longer enough. Consumers want experiences and intangible services.
Helsinki too is familiar to Tyrrell. He has been to Finland as a tourist, but also met investors for his work.
“It was nice to walk in the center of Helsinki. It was beautiful and wintery, it was snowing and it was minus five degrees below zero.”
Stockmann’s department store has also stuck in my mind.
Should the center of Helsinki be dedicated entirely to pedestrians?
Tyrrell doesn’t want to comment. The only thing that is clear is that traffic in both Helsinki and London should be developed above all from the perspective of pedestrians.
Oxford Street is typically a tourist street. Those who live permanently in London prefer to shop elsewhere.
South Londoners Marion and James Gordon however, they have come to the city center for shopping.
“There are some good shops here,” says Marion Gordon.
Favorites are the classics: the flagship department store of the John Lewis chain and the large department store of the Marks & Spencer chain next to the luxury department store Selfridges.
The John Lewis chain is a credit store for the English middle class, a bit like Stockmann in Finland.
James and Marion Gordon came to Oxford Street from South London. For them, moving traffic to nearby streets is not a solution to congestion.
in Dubai are living Ahmed Momeni and Marzieh Barati on the other hand, are less satisfied with Oxford Street’s offer.
It is said that the prices of branded products are surprisingly cheaper in London than in Dubai, even though Dubai’s taxation is much lighter.
Still nothing to buy has been found. There is room for improvement in the framework.
“It’s not very cool here. It was cooler in Germany and in Norway and Finland.”
Ahmed Momeni and Marzieh Barati, who live in Dubai, could not find anything to buy in the shops on Oxford Street.