Oxford Street, London 1973

Looking west. This clear, bright view of early-’70s Oxford Street shows the stretch around Gilbert Street, with the pavements crowded and the traffic thinned by the still-active one-way system. On the left stands Garner’s Steak House, a popular chain at the time, occupying the corner of Gilbert Street — its bold red signage typical of West End eateries of the era.

Dominating the right-hand side is C&A, in its rebuilt post-Blitz premises at 376–384 Oxford Street. The store’s distinctive blue oval logo is visible above the entrance. The site would later become Gap, and both Gilda (the fashion store visible beside it) and the wider early-’70s retail mix have since disappeared.

Across the road, the stately frontage of Selfridges stretches into the distance. Opened in 1909, the store was already London’s great West End landmark by the 1970s, its long classical colonnade unmistakable even in a busy street scene like this.

One of the biggest differences today is greenery: modern Oxford Street is lined with far more street trees, especially around the New West End Company’s more recent improvement schemes. In 1973 the street remained almost entirely treeless — more concrete, more signage, and many more Routemasters than one would see today.

A wonderfully crisp snapshot of a lost Oxford Street: crowded, noisy, and full of the shops and restaurants that defined the street in the early 1970s.