Oxford Street is being transformed to a people-only place in 2018, starting with closing the stretch from Oxford Circus to Selfridges/Orchard Street (aka 'the posh bit of Oxford Street') to vehicles.
Crossrail will open in Bond Street station and Tottenham Court Road station in December 2018 pushing up total visitor numbers to Oxford Street by a forecast 20%, or 120,000 visitors per day.
With 200 million visitors already passing through Oxford Street every year, this will push visitor numbers closer to 240 million per year.
Artists impression of a pedestrianised Oxford Street
The 300+ retailers in the area will no doubt be pleased with the development. Selfridges will be delighted with keeping the front of its store pedestrianised and Oxford Street/Orchard Street open towards Marble Arch in the first stage allowing traffic to pass by on one side of Selfridges.
Screenshot of Google Maps
At this moment we do not know if this will affect Selfridges parking space.
Source: Tfl
The transformation of Oxford Street will be done in three stages with Oxford Street West closing for traffic in December 2018 and a year after that in December 2019 Oxford Street East closing to all traffic.
The Marble Arch area of Oxford Street will remain the largest as traffic in this area is also the hardest to divert and is likely to be even worse once the West part of Oxford Street has closed to traffic.
Rents likely to rise?
Oxford Street already has some of the highest rents in Europe and the pedestrianisation of the area will most likely push those prices even higher.
Sample rents:
- 2017
- Intimissimi, 368-370 Oxford Street, £1,153/sqft (2,635 sqft) source
- 2016
- 2015
- Swatch, £1,010/sqft source
- Uniqlo, £1,000/sqft (40,000 sqft store)
- The Toy Store, £925/sqft, West One Shopping Centre (closed in 2016)
For more information check out Transport For London's website.