Is the “Elizabeth line effect” already starting to pay off for Oxford Street?
The West End’s world famous boulevard of consumerism has had some pretty tough publicity over recent months with the council sounding off about the spiralling number of tacky candy stores and only last week M&S boss Stuart Machin using these pages to describe it as “a national embarrassment”.
Footfall is still down on pre-pandemic levels, but the gap is slowly closing as what is already Britain’s busiest railway brings millions more tourists and workers back to central London.
And a flurry of new store announcements in recent days suggests that reports of Oxford Street’s demise may, as they say, be exaggerated. First it was HMV, which is set to return to its flagship site at number 363 some four years after its closure left a huge hole for an American sweet shop to move into.
Then this morning trainer and streetwear retailer Footasylum announced that it is to open a 20,000 sq ft flagship over two floors at 73-89 Oxford Street later this year. Meanwhile Ikea is well advanced in its preparation for the launch of its new city centre store in the former Topshop building on Oxford Circus after investing £378 million.
There are still challenges ahead. It will be a huge blow if M&S closes its Marble Arch store as it has threatened if it does not get the go ahead for demolition and redevelopment of the site.
Nevertheless there are encouraging signs that “London’s high street” is finally getting its mojo back after a grim decade of decline.
