We have a bold plan to turn things around and bring big brands – and new life – back to the nation’s high street

This week, we’re celebrating a momentous new era for Oxford Street, as the nation’s high street goes traffic-free – just in time for the busy Christmas shopping period. On Monday morning, I did something I’ve done countless times since my teenage years – I left my home in Tooting and headed into central London. It was a typical wet and windy autumn morning. But, under an overcast sky, a new dawn was breaking for our city’s most famous street. For the first time in its history, Oxford Street was closed to traffic – not for hours or days, but for good. It felt like a different place. Without the roar of engines, you could hear people talking and laughing. Free from exhaust fumes, the air felt cleaner. You didn’t have to jostle for your place on the pavement, because you could walk anywhere you liked. The Londoners and visitors I met were already making the most of it. On the first day of the school holidays, Oxford Street was full of families who’d come for a day out. Watching them make their way down the street, I remembered what it was like to take my own daughters shopping on Oxford Street when they were much younger – and how I had to hug them close to protect them from passing buses and taxis. Thanks to pedestrianisation, those days are finally over. This is a massive moment for both the capital and the country. To say that Oxford Street is solely London’s high street would be well wide of the mark. Recent data shows it generates 1% of the UK’s total economic output. And yet, in recent years, it has struggled. The rise of online shopping was already a colossal challenge, but the impact of the pandemic made the situation much worse. As footfall fell, good shops shut – only to be replaced by stores selling vapes and cheap American candy. Oxford Street is hardly alone in this respect. Its story is one of thousands unfolding in communities across the country, where – as Andy Burnham has put it – high streets have been hollowed out after decades of decline. But we have a bold plan to turn things around and bring big brands – and new life – back to the nation’s high street. When we talk about our town centres, it’s easy to be nostalgic. But the truth is that times have changed. When you can order whatever you want, whenever you want, from wherever you want in a couple of clicks, sprucing up some shopfronts isn’t going to be enough to get people off the sofa. If our high streets aren’t places you have to go, they’ve got to be places you want to go. And they’ve got to offer people an experience they can’t get online. I want Oxford Street to be a place that people choose to come back to again and again, and closing it to traffic is just the start. Now, we can begin transforming Oxford Street into a truly world-class destination for Londoners and visitors alike – a space that hosts the biggest names in retail alongside exciting events that offer crowds culture and connection. Household names like Ikea, Puma and Clarks have already invested in new stores, but this is only the beginning. Oxford Street has been known for many things in its time, but standing still isn’t one of them. Once a Roman road, then a street famous for being the route to the Tyburn Gallows, it was Oxford Street where the modern-day department store was born. And it was Oxford Street where, after the destruction of the Blitz, London began to rebuild itself. The way I see it, pedestrianisation is just the latest chapter in Oxford Street’s long history of change and it couldn’t have come soon enough. In a world evolving as rapidly as ours, business as usual won’t cut it. In my 10 years as Mayor, plenty of people tried to tell me that pedestrianising Oxford Street couldn’t be done. My predecessor once said that it would be “foolish”. But, if the last few days are anything to go by, the naysayers are wrong. For me, this comes down to one thing: pride. I still remember the first time I went to Oxford Street without my parents like it was yesterday. It felt like the whole world was right there – in the beating heart of the greatest city on Earth. See all the latest stories from your Real Britain columnist Ros Wynne-Jones here But Brits today no longer feel that way. They’ve lost their sense of pride in Oxford Street, because it no longer shows our capital city at its brilliant best. My message to the country this week is clear: you won’t have to feel that way for much longer. New York has got Times Square, Paris has got the Champs Élysées, and Barcelona has got La Rambla. Now, we’re going to turn Oxford Street into something even better, by creating a place every Brit can be proud of. You don’t have to take my word for it. With Christmas around the corner, now’s the perfect time to come and see it for yourself. Ensure Real Britain always appears at the top of your Google Search by making The Mirror a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings. In safer hands tackling crime If you’ve been on social media, the chances are you may have seen a story about “lawless London”. Look past the lies being spread online and you’ll see the truth is very different. Neighbourhood crime is falling across our city, with phone theft and robbery at their lowest level in years. Our success reflects the fact we’re not just being tough on crime, by providing record police funding from City Hall. We’re being tough on its complex causes too. I set up England’s first Violence Reduction Unit in 2019 to provide young people with positive opportunities to prevent them from being caught up in crime. Since then, it’s reached over one million Londoners, and hospital admissions of young people for knife assault have fallen by 55%. Last year, London’s per capita homicide rate was the lowest in history. There’s always more to do. But the evidence shows we’re headed in the right direction – and London’s a lot safer than the scaremongers say. Can’t compete with our Kane I was delighted to see England captain Harry Kane crowned the winner of the Ballon d’Or in London. Kane is fully deserving of the prestigious award for the world’s best footballer after scoring an astonishing 73 goals for club and country last season. England fans like me will never forget the starring role he played at this summer’s World Cup. Seventy years after the inaugural Ballon d’Or was won by England’s Sir Stanley Matthews, it was fitting that the ceremony should come to London for the first time and Kane honoured. He is now – officially – one of the greatest of all time. Stratford Home of the Olympics, Stratford has become one of Europe’s biggest regeneration projects. After this week’s budget, we’re writing the next chapter of this East London success story. By bringing cross-channel trains to Stratford International station, it gets a direct connection to the Continent, benefiting the whole country.