Oxford Street, Traffic-Free: The Shops, the Food and the Streets Off It

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: Since Monday 26 October 2026, no cars, buses, taxis, bicycles, e-scooters or pedicabs are allowed on Oxford Street from Orchard Street (Selfridges) to Great Portland Street, nearly a kilometre. Come by Tube: Bond Street for Selfridges and John Lewis, Oxford Circus for the east end, Tottenham Court Road for the new Harry Potter Shop. Go on a weekday morning, and turn off the street for the lanes and squares either side of it.

Closure, bus and shop details as of 31 October 2026.

What changed on 26 October 2026

Oxford Street is traffic-free between Orchard Street, beside Selfridges, and Great Portland Street, just east of Oxford Circus. The stretch takes in Selfridges, Bond Street station, John Lewis, Oxford Circus and IKEA. TfL, the highway authority, made the change on Monday 26 October 2026, and the closure is permanent. TfL’s page has the rules.

The traffic-free stretch, looking past the HMV shop.

⚠️ Traffic still crosses the stretch at seven junctions. They are Orchard Street and North Audley Street, Duke Street, Stratford Place and Davies Street, Vere Street and New Bond Street, Holles Street and Harewood Place, Regent Street at Oxford Circus, and Great Portland Street. Look both ways at each.

Buses. None run along the stretch, and TfL’s area works page has the bus maps.

• Routes 7, N7, 94, N113 and N137 end at Marble Arch.
• Routes 98, 139, 390, N98 and N207 use Wigmore Street, Henrietta Place and Cavendish Place, with stops about 200 metres from the closure.
• Routes 2, 13, 73, 74, 113, 159, 189, 274, N2, N8, N15, N73, N74, N25, N109 and N136 keep their routes with minor changes, including some stop moves.

Taxis. Taxis and private hire cars cannot enter. TfL says there are ranks within 100 metres of the stretch, on Orchard Street, Duke Street and Great Portland Street among others.

Cycling. Bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters and pedicabs are banned on the stretch. Mobility scooters are allowed.

What comes next. The layout in place is a temporary “transitional scheme”, according to the Oxford Street Development Corporation. By the end of spring 2027 it expects more than 50 new trees, two public squares, over 100 seats and dining tables, new lighting and better signage. TfL plans to raise the road to pavement level, with the first two sections due in spring 2027. Building work over Christmas 2026 is limited.

Which end to use

TfL names Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road as the step-free stations on its Oxford Street page. Its station data lists no lifts at Oxford Circus or Marble Arch. Step-Free London covers the rest of the network, and the transport guide covers fares and the Elizabeth line.

The shops worth the trip

Listed west to east, with each shop’s own opening hours. HMV has said its flagship at 363 Oxford Street will close in March 2027.

Marks & Spencer, Marble Arch

458 Oxford Street, at the western end and outside the closure. Open until 10pm Monday to Saturday to 13 November 2026, and 12pm to 6pm on Sunday, with browsing from 11.30am. Its store page lists toilets, a café and a bureau de change.

Selfridges

400 Oxford Street, and the store the closure starts beside. It opened in March 1909 and is open 10am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 11.30am to 6pm on Sunday, according to its own London store page. Its 2026 Christmas windows show scenes from Mexico City, Bangkok and Copenhagen, and the in-store Snow Show is Broadway-themed, as described on Oxford Street’s Christmas page. The windows now face a pedestrian street.

Selfridges. Photo: Daniel X. O’Neil, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

John Lewis

300 Oxford Street. Open 10am to 8pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 9pm Thursday and 11.30am to 6pm Sunday; the Christmas hours are below. John Lewis says the refurbished store has a new 300-seat restaurant and a sports department. The 1864 Rooftop Bar & Kitchen is on the roof, and its festive igloos take bookings for dinners and parties.

The Christmas Shop signs on the front of John Lewis.

IKEA Oxford Street

214 Oxford Street, at the Oxford Circus end. The store stocks 3,500 smaller home items to take away, and the rest of the range is for delivery or collection, so bring a bag. Open 10am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 12pm to 6pm on Sunday; the bistro and Swedish food market keep slightly shorter hours, according to the store page.

Harry Potter Shop

The Harry Potter Shop is at The Ribbon, 134-140 Oxford Street, east of Great Portland Street, so outside the traffic-free stretch. Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus are the nearest stations. The operator calls it the UK’s largest official Harry Potter shop, on two floors themed as Diagon Alley.

The Harry Potter Shop at The Ribbon, on Oxford Street.

It says the shop has:

• The Leaky Cauldron, a food and drink space serving Butterbeer, frozen and hot Butterbeer and Butterbeer ice cream.
• A full-sized Knight Bus, towards the rear of the shop.
• A Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon over the Gringotts area.
• Shop exclusives: a Diagon Alley wand, a Harry Potter Funko Pop!, MinaLima artwork inspired by the Knight Bus and Diagon Alley, and a Butterbeer label collection.

⚠️ The Hogwarts Bear Ceremony needs a booking. Reserve a free timeslot on the shop’s booking page. Availability shows seven days ahead, and the £75 per bear is paid after the five-to-seven-minute ceremony, on the first floor opposite the Leaky Cauldron’s exit.

It is a shop, not the Studio Tour: the Studio Tour’s own shop needs a tour ticket, and our Studio Tour guide covers tickets and transport. Harry Potter in London compares the three official shops, and the filming locations walk passes the one at King’s Cross. For a Harry Potter day out, these cover the Studio Tour and the film locations:

For VAT, see tax-free shopping, and for the rest of the city’s shopping, shopping in London.

Where to eat

On the street and a few minutes off it, each with one thing that decides the visit.

Brasserie of Light

££££ · Mayfair · 3 min from Bond Street · book days ahead

Inside Selfridges, under a 24ft, crystal-encrusted Damien Hirst sculpture of Pegasus. Order afternoon tea, served beneath the Pegasus wings, or the Saturday set menu. It opens at 8am Monday to Friday and 9am at weekends, and closes at 11.30pm Monday to Thursday, midnight Friday and Saturday and 10.30pm Sunday. The main restaurant and its toilets are reached by lift. Reserve through its site.

Le Bab

££ · Soho · 6 min from Piccadilly Circus · book days ahead

On the top floor of Kingly Court, off Carnaby Street. Order the paneer kebab; kebabs run from £12 to £19. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Reserve through its site.

More places near the street

For a sit-down meal inside a department store, there is the Brasserie of Light above, the 1864 Rooftop Bar & Kitchen at John Lewis and, at IKEA, a bistro open 10am to 8.30pm Monday to Saturday and 12pm to 5.30pm Sunday. Eat in London has the full list, and cheap eats covers the places under £15.

The streets off it

Each of these is a minute or two from the street. Listed west to east.

St Christopher’s Place

The square at St Christopher’s Place.

A short pedestrian lane off the north side, with smaller and pricier shops than the chains on Oxford Street. Shops open 10am to 8pm daily, and its cafés and restaurants 8am to 11pm, according to its own site; individual units vary. It comes out on Wigmore Street, so it is the way into Marylebone, and our Regent’s Park to Marylebone walk finishes here.

South Molton Street

South Molton Street. Photo: Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

A pedestrian street of fashion shops running south from the Bond Street station end of Oxford Street to Brook Street. Claridge’s is a hundred metres to the right at the bottom, and turning left then right leads into New Bond Street. It is stop two on our Christmas lights walk, and the Mayfair guide covers what is beyond.

Marylebone Lane

A curving lane that follows the buried River Tyburn, lined with small shops, pubs and cafés. It is two minutes end to end and leads to Marylebone High Street, where Daunt Books is. Take the Marylebone Lane exit at Bond Street station to start here and bypass Oxford Street. The Marylebone guide has the High Street and the Sunday farmers’ market.

Hanover Square

Reached by Harewood Place from the south side, near John Lewis. The Elizabeth line’s eastern entrance to Bond Street station comes up here. The square holds a Harry Potter Christmas tree, with a snow show every hour on the hour, according to Oxford Street’s Christmas page. Our Fitzrovia to Mayfair walk goes through the square.

Ramillies Street

The Photographers’ Gallery, at 16-18 Ramillies Street, is off the south side just east of Oxford Circus. Open 10.30am to 6pm Monday to Wednesday and Saturday, 10.30am to 8pm Thursday and Friday, and 11am to 6pm Sunday. Admission is £14, or £12 booked online, and it is free after 5pm on the first Friday of the month: 6 November and 4 December 2026. Thursday evenings are its quieter time. It is closed from 24 December 2026 to 1 January 2027.

Carnaby Street and Kingly Court

Kingly Court. Photo: SisterLondon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

South of Oxford Circus, about five minutes’ walk. Carnaby Street is pedestrian shopping, and Kingly Court off it is three floors of restaurants around a courtyard, covered through the winter. The courtyard is busiest from 6pm to 8pm, and most of its restaurants take bookings. Carnaby’s Christmas lights go on Wednesday 4 November 2026; the Soho guide and the Soho and Chinatown walk cover the streets beyond.

Rathbone Place and Berners Street

Both run north from the east end of Oxford Street. Rathbone Place is where Fitzrovia’s newer restaurants open, with Tottenham Court Road station at the bottom. The Fitzrovia guide has the restaurants and the streets behind.

Quieter times

• Weekday mornings. Oxford Street’s own advice is weekday mornings for a quieter visit, and late afternoon or evening for the Christmas lights. It says weekends and the last days before Christmas are busier.
• Late-opening shops. Selfridges is open to 10pm Monday to Saturday. John Lewis stays open until 9pm on Thursdays.
• Evenings for the lights. Our Christmas lights walk has the dates and the quietest nights, and Christmas in London has the other displays.
• Oxford Circus on busy Saturdays. TfL can close the station’s entrances when crowds build; Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road are the alternatives.

Christmas opening hours

John Lewis publishes its hours on its store page, and the Photographers’ Gallery on its visit page.

Toilets

TfL’s station data lists no toilets at Marble Arch, Bond Street or Oxford Circus. Marks & Spencer Marble Arch lists toilets on its store page, and Selfridges and John Lewis list theirs floor by floor. Public toilets in London covers the free ones and the RADAR key.

Where to stay

Oxford Street is the border between three areas. Where to stay in Soho and the West End covers the south-east, Marylebone the north-west with Marble Arch, and Mayfair the south-west by Bond Street.

Carry on

• Shopping in London: Regent Street, Bond Street, the markets and the arcades.
• Christmas lights walk: starts at Selfridges and finishes at Trafalgar Square.
• Best areas to visit in London: the neighbourhoods compared by what each is for.
• London in November: the lights switch-ons and the rest of the month.

Common questions

Is Oxford Street pedestrianised?

Part of it. Since Monday 26 October 2026 the stretch between Orchard Street, beside Selfridges, and Great Portland Street, just east of Oxford Circus, is closed to cars, buses, taxis, bicycles, e-scooters and pedicabs. It is nearly a kilometre long. The rest of the street, from Marble Arch to Orchard Street and from Great Portland Street to Tottenham Court Road, is outside the closure.

Can you cycle on Oxford Street?

Not on the traffic-free stretch. TfL bans bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters and pedicabs between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street. Mobility scooters are allowed.

Which buses still go along Oxford Street?

None go through the traffic-free stretch. Routes 7, N7, 94, N113 and N137 now end at Marble Arch, and routes 98, 139, 390, N98 and N207 use Wigmore Street, Henrietta Place and Cavendish Place, with stops about 200 metres from the closure. TfL lists minor changes to a further 16 routes on its Oxford Street area works page.

Which station is best for Oxford Street?

Bond Street (Elizabeth line, Central, Jubilee) for Selfridges and John Lewis, Oxford Circus (Central, Bakerloo, Victoria) for the east end of the closure, and Tottenham Court Road (Elizabeth line, Central, Northern) for the Harry Potter Shop. Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road are step-free; TfL's station data shows no lifts at Oxford Circus or Marble Arch.

Where is the Harry Potter Shop on Oxford Street?

At The Ribbon, 134-140 Oxford Street, nearest Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus stations. The Hogwarts Bear Ceremony inside needs a free timeslot booked in advance.

When is Oxford Street quietest?

Oxford Street's own advice is weekday mornings. Weekends and the last days before Christmas are the busiest.