---
title: Oxford Street Is Being Given Back to Londoners on Foot
description: From 26 October almost a kilometre of Oxford Street, Orchard Street to Great Portland Street, goes traffic-free. The history, the numbers and what changes.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-03T12:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-10-03T12:08:15.192Z
canonical: https://richwoman.co/article/oxford-street-pedestrianisation-history-26-october
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-a-classic-red-double-decker-bus-navigates-through-london-s-v-19383822.jpg
categories: Culture & Society, Lifestyle
content_type: News
region: London
publication: Rich Woman Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
about:
  - type: Organization
    name: Oxford Street Development Corporation
    url: https://www.oxfordstreetdc.org.uk
    industry: Urban regeneration and planning
---

Waiting to cross at Marble Arch before heading east down Oxford Street, I stand close to a stone plaque on the traffic island where Edgware Road meets Bayswater Road. It reads "The Site of Tyburn Tree" and it has been there since 1964. The Tyburn gallows stood at the western end of this road. The Victorian history Old and New London says the road itself "follows the line of the Via Trinobantina, one of the military roads of the Romans" and that it was once called Tyburn Road, then Oxford Road, "as being the highway to Oxford".

## The Pantheon Drew More Than 1,700 Guests to Oxford Street in 1772

On 27 January 1772 more than 1,700 guests came to the opening of the Pantheon, a set of assembly rooms for masquerades and concerts on the south side of Oxford Street. It stood where Marks and Spencer stands now.

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