Oxford Street in the context of "Carnaby Street"

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⭐ Core Definition: Oxford Street

Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to the north, with Soho and Mayfair to its immediate south. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around 300,000 daily visitors, and as of 2012 had approximately 300 shops. It is designated as part of the A40, a major road between London and Fishguard, though it is not signed as such, and traffic is regularly restricted to buses and taxis.

The road was originally part of the Via Trinobantina, a Roman road between Essex and Hampshire via London. It was known as Tyburn Road through the Middle Ages when it was notorious for public hangings of prisoners at Tyburn Gallows. It became known as Oxford Road and then Oxford Street in the 18th century and began to change from residential to commercial and retail use, attracting street traders, confidence tricksters, and prostitution. Department stores began to dominate the streetscape in the early 20th century, the most imposing of all being Selfridges (which opened in 1909). The street suffered heavy bombing during World War II, and several longstanding stores including John Lewis & Partners were completely destroyed and rebuilt from scratch.

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In this Dossier

Oxford Street in the context of Westminster

Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, Trafalgar Square and much of the West End cultural centre including the entertainment precinct of West End theatre.

The name (Old English: Westmynstre) originated from the informal description of the abbey church and royal peculiar of St Peter's (Westminster Abbey), west of the City of London (until the English Reformation there was also an Eastminster abbey, on the other side of the City of London, in the East End of London). The abbey's origins date from between the 7th and 10th centuries, but it rose to national prominence when rebuilt by Edward the Confessor in the 11th century. With the development of the old palace alongside the abbey, Westminster has been the home of England's government since about 1200, and from 1707 the Government of the United Kingdom. In 1539, it became a city.

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Oxford Street in the context of City of Westminster

The City of Westminster is a London borough with city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large part of central London, including most of the West End, such as the major shopping areas around Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Bond Street, and the entertainment district of Soho. Many London landmarks are within the borough, including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall, Westminster Cathedral, 10 Downing Street, and Trafalgar Square.

The borough also has a number of major parks and open spaces, including Hyde Park, and most of Regent's Park. Away from central London the borough also includes various inner suburbs, including St John's Wood, Maida Vale, Bayswater, Belgravia and Pimlico. The borough had a population of 204,300 at the 2021 census.

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Oxford Street in the context of Bond Street

Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the longer northern section New Bond Street, a distinction not generally made in everyday usage.

The street was built on fields surrounding Clarendon House on Piccadilly, which were developed by Sir Thomas Bond. It was built up in the 1720s, and by the end of the 18th century was a popular place for the upper-class residents of Mayfair to socialise. Prestigious or expensive shops were established along the street, but it declined as a centre of social activity in the 19th century, although it held its reputation as a fashionable place for retail, and is home to the auction houses Sotheby's and Bonhams (formerly Phillips) and the department store Fenwick and jeweller Tiffany's. It is one of the most expensive and sought after strips of real estate in the world.

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Oxford Street in the context of Mayfair

Mayfair is an affluent area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts in the world.

The area was originally part of the manor of Eia and remained largely rural until the early 18th century. It became well known for the annual May Fair that took place from 1686 to 1764 in what is now Shepherd Market. Over the years, the fair grew increasingly downmarket and unpleasant, and it became a public nuisance. The Grosvenor family (who became Dukes of Westminster) acquired the land through marriage and began to develop it under the direction of Thomas Barlow. The work included Hanover Square, Berkeley Square and Grosvenor Square, which were surrounded by high-quality houses, and St George's Hanover Square Church.

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Oxford Street in the context of Charing Cross Road

Charing Cross Road is a street in Central London, running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street), which then merges into Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direction of Charing Cross at the south side of Trafalgar Square. It connects via St Martin's Place and the motorised east side of the square.

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Oxford Street in the context of Argyll Street

Argyll Street is a street in the Soho district of Central London. It links Great Marlborough Street to the south to Oxford Street in the north and is connected to Regent Street to the west by Little Argyll Street. Historically it was sometimes written as Argyle Street.

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Oxford Street in the context of Central line (London Underground)

The Central line is a London Underground line that runs between West Ruislip or Ealing Broadway in the west, and Epping or Woodford via Hainault in the north-east, via the West End, the City, and the East End. Printed in red on the Tube map, the line serves 49 stations over 46 miles (74 km), making it the network's longest line. It is one of only two lines on the Underground network to cross the Greater London boundary, the other being the Metropolitan line. One of London's deep-level railways traversing narrow tunnels, Central line trains are smaller than those on British main lines.

The line was opened as the Central London Railway in 1900, crossing central London on an east–west axis along the central shopping street of Oxford Street to the financial centre of the City of London. It was later extended to the western suburb of Ealing. In the 1930s, plans were created to expand the route into the new suburbs, taking over steam-hauled outer-suburban routes to the borders of London and beyond to the east. These projects were mostly realised after the Second World War, when construction stopped and the unused tunnels were used as air-raid shelters and factories. However, suburban growth was limited by the Metropolitan Green Belt: of the planned expansions one (to Denham, Buckinghamshire) was cut short and the eastern terminus of Ongar ultimately closed in 1994 due to low patronage; part of this section between Epping and Ongar later became the Epping Ongar Railway. The Central line has mostly been operated by automatic train operation since a major refurbishment in the 1990s, although all trains still carry drivers. Many of its stations are of historic interest, from turn-of-the-century Central London Railway buildings in west London to post-war modernist designs on the West Ruislip and Hainault branches, as well as Victorian-era Eastern Counties Railway and Great Eastern Railway buildings east of Stratford, from when the line to Epping was a rural branch line.

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Oxford Street in the context of Nanjing Road (Shanghai)

Nanjing Road (Chinese: 南京路; pinyin: Nánjīng Lù; Shanghainese: Noecin Lu) is a road in Shanghai, the eastern part of which is the main shopping district of Shanghai. It is one of the world's busiest shopping streets, along with Fifth Avenue, Oxford Street, Orchard Road, Takeshita Street and the Champs-Élysées. The street is named after Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province and the former capital of the Republic of China. Today's Nanjing Road comprises two sections, Nanjing Road East and Nanjing Road West.

In some contexts, "Nanjing Road" refers only to what was pre-1945 Nanjing Road, then rendered as Nanking Road in English. The former Nanking Road lay entirely within the Shanghai International Settlement. Today's Nanjing Road West was formerly Bubbling Well Road, an extra-settlement road built by concession authorities outside the concession proper. The two roads met on the northern edge of the Shanghai Race Club.

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Oxford Street in the context of Oxford Circus

Oxford Circus is a road junction connecting Oxford Street and Regent Street in the West End of London. It is also the entrance to Oxford Circus tube station.

The junction opened in 1819 as part of the Regent Street development under John Nash, and was originally known as Regent Circus North. After the original lease expired, it was redesigned around a series of four quadrant buildings by Henry Tanner between 1913 and 1928, the north-eastern of which has been used by Peter Robinson, Topshop, the BBC and the London Co-operative Society; these are now Grade II listed buildings.

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