London’s Oxford Street is undergoing a painful reinvention as some of its biggest names close their doors. House of Fraser is expected to leave in January, while Debenhams, Topshop, French Connection and Gap are already shuttered. While there are no guarantees for the future, there is hope in the fact that the nation’s retail mecca has undergone multiple reinventions. Here, we take a walk through 300 years of Oxford Street history, through the evolution of five key buildings.
Woolworths, July 1957.
Left: Royal Bazaar, coloured lithograph, circa 1829. Right: Sports Direct in 2021.
Billionaire Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has just lavished £10m creating a London emporium designed to throw off its bargain tracksuit image and dazzle the crowds when
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