Celebrating a British icon 43
to be dealt with similarly, with
several simply stopping short of
Oxford Street (the 7, 98 and 113,
for example). By the end of 2018,
it is planned that only two routes
out of the previous 16 will still
run east-west along the Oxford
Street axis – the 139 and the- These will be diverted via
Wigmore Street, several hundred
metres north of Oxford Street,
and Henrietta Place, which is
slightly closer.
After the initial
pedestrianisation programme,
the eastern section of Oxford
Street will still be open to traffic.
This part of the street has never
had quite the cachet of the
western section, perhaps lacking
any high-profile department
stores. It does however feature
various other famous retail
names such as Top Shop and
Gap. It also contains Marks
& Spencer’s Grade II listed
Pantheon store, whose striking
art deco façade was designed
by Robert Lutyens, son of the
more famous Edwin. It was
named after an 18th century
entertainment venue called (you
guessed it) the Pantheon.
For the time being this section
of the street will continue to
be used by several bus routes –
notably the 25, 73 and 390. But
pedestrianisation is due to follow
during 2019, so the reprieve
could be short-lived.
Curiously, the extreme western
end of Oxford Street could remain
permanently exempt from most
of these measures. The short
stretch between Orchard Street
and Marble Arch forms part of a
well established and extremely
busy north-south through route,linking the Baker Street/Finchley
Road axis with Park Lane
and Grosvenor Place. Short of
banishing all traffic from this part
of the West End, it is hard to see
how planners could even consider
closing this piece of road.
Admittedly, Orchard Street
and Gloucester Place, forming
two parallel sides of a one-way
system, are both currently
being converted back to two-
way traffic, and part of Orchard
Street will in future be limited
to buses and taxis. But that
means some bus routes will
continue to join Oxford Street
from here indefinitely (the 13 is
one); so even when the dust has
settled and pedestrianisation
has taken full effect, it will
still be possible to see buses in
Oxford Street.
In a small part of it, anyway ● PROxford Street
BELOW: Buses
share Oxford
Street with large
numbers of
pedestrians, as
well as licensed
taxis and other
road users.
This is Oxford
Circus, where
the pedestrian
crossing has been
redesigned to
accommodate
diagonal
movements as well
as those made at
right angles.