Oxford Street car-free experiment sparked high street sales surge, analysis shows
An experiment to ban cars from Oxford Street for a day sparked a surge in high street sales, according to a survey.
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On Sunday September 21, traffic was banned from the central London shopping destination from midday to 8pm - with food and drink stalls, live music, art and a literary festival instead of the usual traffic running up the centre.
The analysis carried out by the New West End Company found that 70 per cent of shops surveyed found similar of higher sales than a usual Sunday and footfall was up by nearly 50 per cent.
Shoppers also said that it boosted their overall experience of shopping on Oxford Street.
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Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan is trying to make the case for pedestrianising the shopping destination.
It is one of the world's busiest shopping areas, with around half a million visitors each day.
Sir Sadiq wants to permanently ban vehicles from a 0.7-mile stretch between Oxford Circus and Marble Arch, with the potential for further changes towards Tottenham Court Road.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “This traffic free day on Oxford Street was a celebration of everything that makes our dynamic city great and showed the huge appetite for a cleaner, more welcoming and more prosperous West End.
"These fantastic statistics prove that when people are put at the heart of Oxford Street, without traffic, the area thrives and businesses benefit. That’s why I am moving forward with my proposals to pedestrianise Oxford Street and revitalise the area as quickly as I can.
"By choosing to be imaginative and bold, we can deliver a better future for Oxford Street, a cleaner, traffic-free and truly accessible world-class public space.”