London's busiest shopping street could soon be free of traffic altogether. The plan, championed by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan with Transport for London and Westminster City Council, would pedestrianise the stretch of Oxford Street between Oxford Circus and Marble Arch — roughly the busiest retail corridor in the country, drawing tens of millions of visits a year.
The idea isn't entirely new. A previous attempt was blocked back in 2018 by local councils and residents who feared congestion would simply spill into surrounding streets. The revived version works differently: instead of closing the road outright overnight, buses would be removed and general traffic restricted along the central section, with changes staged gradually and shaped by public consultation.
Reaction has been mixed, as you'd expect. Business groups and many shoppers welcome the prospect of a calmer, safer street with room for cafés, events and public space rather than gridlocked buses and honking taxis. Critics — including some residents of nearby Marylebone and Mayfair — worry about displaced traffic clogging quieter side streets and question whether rerouted bus services will leave some shoppers worse off. Westminster City Council has pushed for guarantees on traffic management and the long-term upkeep of the space before fully backing the scheme.
For anyone planning a shopping trip to London, the appeal is obvious. Oxford Street currently hosts over a mile of flagship stores — from Selfridges and John Lewis to the massive Primark — and doubling as a major bus corridor makes it noisy, crowded and frequently uncomfortable to walk. A pedestrianised version, modelled loosely on successful transformations in places like Madrid and Times Square, would make the UK's biggest retail strip far more pleasant, especially around Christmas when footfall spikes and the lights go up.
Timelines have shifted more than once, and details like bus rerouting and access for deliveries are still being worked through, so check the latest guidance before you travel. But the direction of travel is clear: central London's most famous shopping street is being reimagined around people rather than vehicles, and whatever version lands, it will change how a day of London shopping feels.
