London's Oxford Street thrives

Nowhere is the growing divergence between the London economy and the rest of the UK more apparent than Oxford Street – one of the UK’s most important shopping centres.

While high streets in towns across the country have been boarding up stores vacated by the likes of Woolworths and Zaavi, Oxford Street has been celebrating the arrival of new foreign retailers and record rents. Over the next few weeks and months, the full scale of Oxford Street’s prosperity will become clear to the millions of shoppers packing its crowded streets.

New stores will open their doors as overseas retailers, such as fashion brands Forever 21 and Desigual, make their debut and others, such as Disney, move to more modern locations. However, the most eye-catching change poised to occur to the street, according to industry insiders, will be the realisation of the last great untapped resource of Oxford Street – the development of its eastern end.