London’s West End to get a face lift

Parts of the West End of London are to get a facelift in proposals by Westminster Council and probably not before time for places like Oxford Street, especially the Tottenham Court Road end. The council have released a plan for Oxford, Regent and Old and New Bond Streets for three months so the public can offer comment and ideas, and the plan focuses on pedestrianisation, congestion and putting in new public art to make the area more user friendly and somewhere visitors will want to come to.

Oxford Street is somewhere I’d like to see completely pedestrianised with perhaps only a tram system running between Tottenham Court Road and Marble Arch, using cars similar to San Francisco cable cars so you could jump on and off as you wanted. Trying to make your way along the crowded pavements on a busy afternoon can get crazy and the area around Oxford Circus is a complete bottleneck for anyone on foot.

I doubt if Westminster Council would go that far but I think it would make shopping there a much more pleasant experience. Currently 57% of shoppers on Oxford Street are aged between 16-34 and I’m sure a lot of old shoppers are put off by the crush of people and the risks of pickpockets and street crime. The police are actually going to open a special police station inside of Selfridges department store at the western end of Oxford Street to deal with the petty crime that takes place in the area.

There’s definitely room for improvement in the West End in terms of people’s movement and access to the stores and restaurants. Blocking off the roads, cleaning up all the street signage and creating more space is the way to go in my opinion.