London’s most famous shopping street lost its buses on Monday.

London’s most famous shopping street lost its buses on Monday.

The situation: Oxford Street has been a shopping street for more than 200 years. Until this week its shops faced a road, with cars, buses and taxis running through the middle of it.

What happened: on Monday (26 Oct) the stretch between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street closed to private cars, buses, taxis, cycles, scooters and pedicabs. It is the first stage of a phased plan, with as little building work as possible in the weeks before Christmas. By the end of spring 2027 the street is due more than 50 new trees, two new public squares, more than a hundred new seats, dining tables and new lighting. Dee Corsi, chief executive of the New West End Company, said “the focus must now be on getting the delivery right”.

Why it can work: from a bus, a shop window gets a second at most. On foot, people slow down. They stop, look in, sit, meet a friend and come back after lunch. The longer people stay on the street, the more every ground floor on it is worth, to the shop and to the landlord.

The move I’d make: if I had a shop on that stretch, I’d redo the window and the first few steps inside for someone standing on the sidewalk. I’d start counting who stops and who comes in this week, so there’s a before and after when the seats and squares arrive in spring. If I owned buildings there, I’d be asking my tenants what they would do with the space out front.

If the traffic outside your door disappeared tomorrow, what would you change first?

What are your thoughts?