f some of the recent reports are to be believed Oxford Street has been reduced to a Mad Max-style dystopia where feral criminal gangs smash store windows at will and tacky Candy stores fill virtually every retail unit from Marble Arch to Centre Point.
The truth is very different as our report today shows. There is no doubt that the 1.2 mile-long canyon of consumerism has had a tough time since 2020 and it is looking a little battered. There are certainly too many candy stores, although firm action being taken by Westminster council should thin their ranks.
But there is investment too. Today’s encouraging figures from CBRE show there is no shortage of retailers hoping to open new space on Europe’s busiest shopping street, which still has a vitality unmatched nearly anywhere else in the world.
Great Portland Estates’ purchase of a portfolio of properties around Soho Square is also good news. The developer has done an excellent job in reviving the area around Hanover Square, towards the western end of Oxford Street, and hopefully we can look forward to a similar transformation around Soho Square at the eastern end.
The hotly contested debate around the Marks & Spencer flagship at Marble Arch remains to be resolved. M&S has said Michael Gove’s decision to block its plan to replace the store is “pathetic” and the retailer has threatened to up sticks if its demolition-and-rebuild proposal is not approved.
That would be a huge shame. Hopefully it can look again and find ways to make what is a fine and much loved building work for its future needs.
The great abandoned Debenhams and House of Fraser department stores also need to find a new purpose as offices.
Oxford Street has had a tough few years, perhaps the hardest in its peacetime history. But there are enough green shoots emerging for it to look forward to a brighter future.