For first-time visitors to London, there are certain addresses you need to tick off, like Leicester Square, Brick Lane, or Abbey Road.
And while the latter is most famous for its zebra crossing – thanks to The Beatles, whose album cover of the same name was shot here – one popular tourist location is making sure marked crosswalks are no longer necessary: Oxford Street.
That’s because the world-famous shopping street is now closed to cars, buses and bicycles as of 26 October.
Nearly a kilometre of Oxford Street, between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street, is now traffic-free, with vehicles diverted onto surrounding roads.
The move is the first step in a makeover of the storied shopping precinct, with plans to plant trees, install seating and add two new public squares.
Oxford Street still sees about half a million visitors a day, with shoppers bustling between retailers such as Selfridges, Zara and John Lewis.
But city officials say pedestrianising the street will put it back into the league of top global shopping destinations like Times Square, the Champs-Élysées and La Rambla.
“This is a momentous day for London, a momentous day for Oxford Street,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the BBC. “It’s a new era.”
Why now?
While local officials began discussing the idea of pedestrianising Oxford Street more than a decade ago, momentum began to build over the last two years when the mayor’s office created the Oxford Street Development Corporation to shepherd the project.
That helped overcome opposition from local residents who complained that diverting vehicles from Oxford Street would clog their neighbourhoods with traffic.
A public consultation later determined that removing traffic would attract new shops and visitors to Oxford Street, making it “an iconic destination”.
The project also got a boost from the new Elizabeth Line, which runs through the heart of the city, with a stop on Oxford Street.
Further work on the makeover will begin in the new year, with city officials refining their plans based on feedback from visitors, Khan told reporters.
“In advance of Christmas, you know, I want people to come here and shop and enjoy the experience,” he added.
Oxford Street’s famed lights
As hinted at by Khan, one of the best times to visit (or worst, if you hate crowds) is during the holiday season when lights line Oxford Street, a tradition first started in 1959.
According to the official website, this year the Christmas lights will be Harry Potter themed to mark the opening of the UK’s largest official Harry Potter store as well as the launch of the controversial new HBO series.
Previous years have seen the street lit up with 5,000 stars glowing thanks to the help of 300,000 LED bulbs.
Additional sources • AP