Almost a Kilometre of Oxford Street Is Now Closed to Traffic

Almost one kilometre of Oxford Street in central London is now permanently closed to vehicles. Pedestrianisation began on 26 October 2026, and the stretch between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street is now for walkers only.

The whole street runs for two kilometres, from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch. Cars, buses, taxis and private hire vehicles are banned from the closed section, along with cycles, scooters and pedicabs. Those journeys are being sent along side streets instead. Before the change, buses, taxis and cyclists were the only vehicles allowed on the street, and only between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Saturday.

The idea is far from new. London mayor Sadiq Khan first announced plans to make Oxford Street traffic-free in 2017, but Westminster Council blocked them. The mayor's office then staged a one-day trial. On Sunday 21 September 2025, the street was closed to traffic from noon until 8pm for a free event open to everyone. A later mayoral decision allowed the permanent scheme to move forward. The project is part of a £150 million government-backed programme, according to The Guardian.

Don't expect a finished street yet. The first section is in a transition period, with new signage, seating and planters still to be added. Trees will go in first as sculptural pots, before being planted in the ground for the permanent design. The full transformation is expected to start in 2027 and finish in 2028. Reuters reports that only minimal construction will take place before Christmas 2026.

The finished section will include two new squares, one near Holles Street and one near Duke Street. The ground will also be levelled with new surface finishes across the old roadway, so that pavement and road no longer sit at different heights.

The design team is led by architecture studio East, working with landscape studio J L Gibbons and urban design studios Gehl and Publica. Hawkins\Brown is separately developing a long-term vision for the whole of Oxford Street, not just the closed section.

Oxford Street is often described as Europe's busiest shopping street, according to ABC News. For the people who work on it, deliver to it and walk its pavements every day, the change means new routes, new noise levels and a lot of building work to come. Shoppers, drivers and bus passengers will notice the difference first in the side streets, where traffic is now being redirected.