Jul 22, 2026 · 18 min · 9 segments
Oxford Street is Europes busiest street and with shops and department stores a place so mnay that come to London visit! There is so much more to this street in its history and in this podcast we'll…
Oxford Street is a major road in the city of Westminster in the west end of London which runs between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus.
It is Europe's busiest shopping street with around 300,000 daily visitors and has approximately 300 shops.
It was known as Tyburn Road through the Middle Ages when it was a notorious place for public hangings of prisoners at Tyburn gallows.
It became known as Oxford Road and then Oxford Street in the 18th century and began to change from residential to commercial and retail use, attracting street traders, confidence tricksters and prostitution.
Department stores began to dominate the streetscape in the early 20th century, most imposing of all being Selfridges, which opened in 1909.
The streets suffered heavy bombing during World War II and several long-standing stores such as John Lewis and Partners were completely destroyed and rebuilt from scratch.
Despite competition from out-of-town shopping centres and online retailers, Oxford Street remains in high demand as a retail location, with many British retail chains having their flagship stores on the street and having a number of listed buildings.
Unlike nearby shopping streets such as Bond Street, it has retained an element of downmarket trading alongside more prestigious retail stores.
Generally speaking, the eastern end of Oxford Street features a higher proportion of more downmarket retailers, fast food restaurants and souvenir shops, whilst more exclusive and upmarket stores can be found down towards its western end, which passes close to the wealthy Mayfair district.
Some of Tottenham Court Road's famous electronics stores have spread into its eastern extremity.
The annual switching on of Christmas lights by a celebrity has been a popular event since 1959.
As a popular retail area and the main thoroughfare for London buses and taxis, Oxford Street has suffered from traffic congestion, pedestrian congestion, a poor safety record and pollution.
Various traffic management schemes have been implemented by Transport for London and others, including a ban on private vehicles during daytime hours on weekdays and Saturdays.
In place since the 1970s, widened pavements and improved pedestrian crossings.
Oxford Street runs for approximately 1.2 miles and is entirely within the city of Westminster.
The road begins at St Giles Circus as a westward continuation of New Oxford Street, meeting Charing Cross Road, Tottenham Court Road next to Tottenham Court Road tube station.
It runs past Rathbone Place, Wardour Street and Great Portland Street to Oxford Circus where it meets Regent Street.
From there, it continues past New Bond Street, Bond Street Station and Vere Street, ending at Marble Arch.
It is part of the A40, most of which is a trunk road running from London to Fishguard via Oxford, Cheltenham, Brecon and Haverford West.
Like many roads in central London that are no longer through-routes, it is not signposted with that number.
Oxford Street is a major road in the city of Westminster in the west end of London which runs between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus.
It is Europe's busiest shopping street with around 300,000 daily visitors and has approximately 300 shops.
It was known as Tyburn Road through the Middle Ages when it was a notorious place for public hangings of prisoners at Tyburn gallows.
It became known as Oxford Road and then Oxford Street in the 18th century and began to change from residential to commercial and retail use, attracting street traders, confidence tricksters and prostitution.
Department stores began to dominate the streetscape in the early 20th century, most imposing of all being Selfridges, which opened in 1909.
The streets suffered heavy bombing during World War II and several long-standing stores such as John Lewis and Partners were completely destroyed and rebuilt from scratch.
Despite competition from out-of-town shopping centres and online retailers, Oxford Street remains in high demand as a retail location, with many British retail chains having their flagship stores on the street and having a number of listed buildings.
Unlike nearby shopping streets such as Bond Street, it has retained an element of downmarket trading alongside more prestigious retail stores.
Generally speaking, the eastern end of Oxford Street features a higher proportion of more downmarket retailers, fast food restaurants and souvenir shops, whilst more exclusive and upmarket stores can be found down towards its western end, which passes close to the wealthy Mayfair district.
Some of Tottenham Court Road's famous electronics stores have spread into its eastern extremity.
The annual switching on of Christmas lights by a celebrity has been a popular event since 1959.
As a popular retail area and the main thoroughfare for London buses and taxis, Oxford Street has suffered from traffic congestion, pedestrian congestion, a poor safety record and pollution.
Various traffic management schemes have been implemented by Transport for London and others, including a ban on private vehicles during daytime hours on weekdays and Saturdays.
In place since the 1970s, widened pavements and improved pedestrian crossings.
Oxford Street runs for approximately 1.2 miles and is entirely within the city of Westminster.
The road begins at St Giles Circus as a westward continuation of New Oxford Street, meeting Charing Cross Road, Tottenham Court Road next to Tottenham Court Road tube station.
It runs past Rathbone Place, Wardour Street and Great Portland Street to Oxford Circus where it meets Regent Street.
From there, it continues past New Bond Street, Bond Street Station and Vere Street, ending at Marble Arch.
It is part of the A40, most of which is a trunk road running from London to Fishguard via Oxford, Cheltenham, Brecon and Haverford West.
Like many roads in central London that are no longer through-routes, it is not signposted with that number.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.