OXFORD STREET and Regent Street go traffic free this weekend for the now regular pre-Christmas event in which £150 million is expected to be splashed out by eager present shoppers.


Popular on LondonNet


“Across the West End, retailers are preparing for our traffic-free weekend with a potential £150m sales boost for the biggest shopping weekend of the year,” said Richard Dickinson, of the New West End Company, which represents most of the area’s shops.

Though £150 million is a welcome boost to the West End economy, it’s a fair way short of the £200+ million that has rushed through the tills on equivalent weekends in each of the last two years.

But traffic-free shopping is just one of the bonuses over the next couple of days as the cumbersomely titled The American Express Shop West End VIP Weekend hosts a Carol-A-Thon and free street entertainment, too.

The Carol-A-Thon is there to raise cash for the Kids Company charity and is set to feature a roster of celebs, gospel choirs, singing police officers and, organisers hope, thousands of passers-by.

Traffic-free timings for the weekend are as follows:
11am-6pm on Saturday 10 December and 12noon-5pm on Sunday 11 December