Description
Oxford Street is London's great shopping street, almost two kilometers of department stores and flagship shops in the West End, from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus: Europe's busiest shopping street, with hundreds of thousands of visitors a day.
The star is Selfridges, opened in 1909, a "temple of the retail trade" whose frontage was, when finished, the largest shop facade in London. Nearby are John Lewis, with Barbara Hepworth's Winged Figure sculpture, and the big Marks & Spencer stores. The western end is more upmarket; the eastern end mixes in fast food and souvenir shops.
The street has a grim past. As Tyburn Road, it was the route of condemned prisoners from Newgate to the gallows at Tyburn, while crowds jeered and bought pieces of the hangman's rope in taverns.
Since 1959 a celebrity has switched on the Christmas lights every year, a popular start to the season.
The star is Selfridges, opened in 1909, a "temple of the retail trade" whose frontage was, when finished, the largest shop facade in London. Nearby are John Lewis, with Barbara Hepworth's Winged Figure sculpture, and the big Marks & Spencer stores. The western end is more upmarket; the eastern end mixes in fast food and souvenir shops.
The street has a grim past. As Tyburn Road, it was the route of condemned prisoners from Newgate to the gallows at Tyburn, while crowds jeered and bought pieces of the hangman's rope in taverns.
Since 1959 a celebrity has switched on the Christmas lights every year, a popular start to the season.