In other news, London Mayor bans traffic from Oxford Street

In other news, London Mayor bans traffic from Oxford Street

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norman lebrecht

July 14, 2016

Sadiq Khan says no more cars, taxis or buses from 2020.

epa03036900 Christmas Shoppers are pictured along Oxford Street on the busiest shopping day of the year in London, Britain, 17 December 2011. Britain's shoppers will spend just over 1.5 million pounds (1.78 million euros) a minute in total on what is research suggests will be the busiest shopping day of the year. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Wigmore Hall will have to relax its rules on concertgoers wearing trainers.

Comments

  • Richard Brant says:
    July 14, 2016 at 11:48 am

    But Wigmore Hall isn’t on Oxford Street.

    Reply
    • norman lebrecht says:
      July 14, 2016 at 11:51 am

      No, it’s off Oxford St. Runs parallel.

      Reply
      • Richard Brant says:
        July 14, 2016 at 12:49 pm

        My point exactly. There is no suggestion taxis, buses et al won’t be allowed access to Wigmore Street, while Oxford Circus tube station is nearby anyway. And I often wear trainers when attending concerts at the Wigmore Hall. I wasn’t aware of any rules regarding footwear?

        Reply
  • SVM says:
    July 14, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    I am a regular attendee of concerts at the Wigmore, and am not aware of any “rules on concertgoers wearing trainers”. We dress up because we *want* to dress up, since we feel that a concert should be a special occasion.

    Reply
    • Saxon Broken says:
      July 17, 2016 at 1:52 pm

      I am not sure why you are using “we” when you mean “I”. Many people don’t want to “dress up” when going to a concert, and don’t do so. Frankly, if this dressing up malarky was commonplace in the audience (rather than a few strange oddities), I would stop going.

      Reply
  • SS says:
    July 14, 2016 at 11:02 pm

    Forget trainers – I wear anything I like to the Wiggy & nobody cares what you wear. Much, much more worrying – will Wigmore Street become the new route, in one direction or both, for buses, taxis etc. & would the associated traffic noise affect concerts?

    Reply
  • someone says:
    July 16, 2016 at 5:24 pm

    I seriously doubt if it is really a good idea.

    Oxford Street is long, so not everyone can work down all the way.
    Even though there are some tube stations, there are still distances between them.
    Plus, no need to mention how horrible London’s underground is.

    Another thing I worry about is that once Oxford Street is closed, all the lovely and quiet roads and lanes behind it will be crowded like Oxford Street has been.
    Then what’s the point to shut down the Street?
    To save Oxford Street, do we have to kill another or many other lovely streets?

    I’m not worrying about how to get to Wigmore Hall or the dress code that doesn’t actually exist, but I’m worrying about the changes of mood and atmosphere of the place behind Oxford Street.

    Oxford Street was one of the places I’d love to avoid as possible as I could, especially on weekends, but the place just behind it was a totally different world.

    Don’t destroy it!

    Reply

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