Regent Street to close to traffic for first time in five years

"Regent Street will close to traffic for the first time in five years and be transformed into a fully pedestrianised winter wonderland. The busy shopping street will be pedestrianised between 2pm and 9pm on Saturday December 6 as part of a car-free day of Christmas shopping and celebrations. Regent Street will be pedestrianised along its Festive Mile, stretching between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus."

"The Regent Street event will show what pedestrianised parts of the West End could look and feel like in the future. The Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan hopes to pedestrianise neighbouring Oxford Street by 2027. The street went traffic-free between Orchard Street and Oxford Circus about half a mile between Selfridges and the junction with Regent Street - in September to offer a glimpse of how the area could be transformed."

Regent Street will close to traffic for the first time in five years and be transformed into a fully pedestrianised winter wonderland on Saturday December 6. The street will be pedestrianised between 2pm and 9pm along its Festive Mile, stretching between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus. Three vintage red buses will be parked under the Christmas lights along the curved road. The event will demonstrate what pedestrianised parts of the West End could look and feel like in the future. The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, hopes to pedestrianise neighbouring Oxford Street by 2027. Earlier in September the street went traffic-free between Orchard Street and Oxford Circus as a half-mile trial. The closure will include more of the road than first planned, adding the eastern section between Oxford Circus and Great Portland Street in front of the new Ikea, while the Oxford Circus junction itself will remain open to north-south buses.

Read at www.standard.co.uk