Oxford Street: reinvent Oxford Street as London and the nation's great high street.BACKGROUND Huge changes have affected the character of the British high street. Princes Street in Edinburgh, Northumberland Street in Newcastle and many others mirror the experience of Oxford Street, in that shopping and entertainment districts are now more widely dispersed dis·perse v. dis·persed, dis·pers·ing, dis·pers·es v.tr. 1. a. To drive off or scatter in different directions: The police dispersed the crowd. b. , in response to increased affluence and expectations. In London, the West End is replicated in Islington, Kings Road, Hammersmith and even out into the suburbs of Kingston, Richmond and elsewhere. At the same time, the growth of huge out-of-town shopping centres and the rise of online shopping have transformed the retail experience. What, then, is the role of the traditional shopping street, for so long the centre and soul of Britain's great cities? Compared with suburban and out-of-town shopping centres, which are custom designed for servicing, maintenance and management, the traditional high street simply cannot compete. Issues of safety, security and cleanliness Cleanliness See also Orderliness. Cleverness (See CUNNING.) Berchta unkempt herself, demands cleanliness from others, especially children. [Ger. Folklore: Leach, 137] cat continually “washes” itself. , of getting the right traders, the right balance of shopping and securing long-term development are harder to achieve on the high street because of multiple ownerships and competing interest groups. Car parking in city centres is also limited, with shoppers obliged o·blige v. o·bliged, o·blig·ing, o·blig·es v.tr. 1. To constrain by physical, legal, social, or moral means. 2. to rely almost solely on public transport. At present, road traffic severely inhibits pedestrian movement, particularly at the east end of Oxford Street around St Giles Circus, which is possibly the worst impediment A disability or obstruction that prevents an individual from entering into a contract. Infancy, for example, is an impediment in making certain contracts. Impediments to marriage include such factors as consanguinity between the parties or an earlier marriage that is still valid. to pedestrian movement in London. PROPOSITION The unique quality of the great high streets is that they are social places, as opposed to bland, mono-functional, disconnected out-of-town centres. Oxford Street is not just London's high street but one of the great high streets of the world. Its role as a gathering place for events such as Christmas fairs and traffic-free Sundays shows how it can be transformed into a real place, echoing historic gatherings such as Bartholomew Fair Bartholomew Fair is a comedy in five acts by Ben Jonson, the last written of his four great comedies. It was first staged on October 31, 1614 at the Hope Theatre by the Lady Elizabeth's Men. and even the great squares of Italy. Approaching Oxford Street on a mono-cultural basis is wrong, as it is not just shops that bring people together. As a major east-west London artery, Oxford Street has many fertile adjacencies with Hyde Park Hyde Park, park, London, England Hyde Park, 615 acres (249 hectares) in Westminster borough, London, England. Once the manor of Hyde, a part of the old Westminster Abbey property, it became a deer park under Henry VIII. , Bond Street, St Christopher's Place and Regent's Place Regent's Place is a mixed use business and retail and (from 2009) residential quarter on the north side of Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. The site is also bounded by Osnaburgh Street to the west, Longford and Drummond Streets to the north, and Hampstead Road to the east. to the west, and Bloomsbury, Covent Garden Covent Garden (kŭv`ənt), area in London historically containing the city's principal fruit and garden market and the Royal Opera House. , Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a London street which runs north from Trafalgar Square to St Giles' Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street) and then becomes Tottenham Court Road. It is so called because it leads from Charing Cross. , Soho and Piccadilly to the east. All these neighbourhood connections should be regarded as an immense asset, with the potential to stage events and encourage social interaction in a way that no out-of-town shopping centre ever could. Oxford Street should not just be regarded as a place to go shopping, but the centre of a much bigger and more vibrant urban stage. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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