Shopping at Oxford Street and Places to Stay in London

Oxford Street is Europe's largest high street with more than 300 shops from leading department stores and flagships, for everything from fashion to furniture, toys to toiletries and the most recent gadgets from all over the world. It is Europe's busiest shopping street. The street derives its name from being part of the old London-Oxford Road. Today the road forms part of the A40, although it is not signposted as this, like other roads in central London.

Oxford Street is one and a half miles from one end to the other. Most of the shops open from 10.00 am until 7.00 pm and some even operate until 8.pm. Some of the Shops now open on Sundays from 12.00 pm to 6.00 pm with very late nights on Thursday. The Flagship of Oxford Street is Selfridges and the other big department stores which can be found in the section from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus, along with most of the very big name multinationals. It is more of the same as you continue towards Tottenham Court Road, but generally on a smaller scale. It is home to major department stores and numerous brands' flagship stores, as well as hundreds of smaller shops. It is the major shopping street in central London, though not the most expensive or fashionable, and part of a larger shopping district with Regent Street, Bond Street and other smaller nearby streets. For many British chain stores, their Oxford Street branches are regarded as their 'flagship' stores and used for celebrity launches and promotions.

The Tube is probably the best way to reach Oxford Street; although there are many London buses serving the area, the traffic congestion is pretty bad, and the wait is lengthy. The Central Line runs pretty much directly beneath Oxford Street at this point, with four stations along its length: Marble Arch, Bond Street (also served by the Jubilee Line), Oxford Circus (also served by the Bakerloo and Victoria lines), and Tottenham Court Road (also served by the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line). If possible, avoid Oxford Circus Station, as its layout is confusing and it's also very busy; at times it can be difficult to get out of the station at all due to pedestrian congestion outside.

There are many London luxury hotels and also cheap London bed and breakfast properties found in the area. It is an affluent area and hotels found there tend to have high room rates. However, Hotels in Bloomsbury which are just about 15 minutes walking distance from Oxford Street will give you very good rates. For instance, the Imperial London hotels which are a concentration of Hotels in Russell Square

It is advisable for someone who does not want to spend much on London accommodation but wants to get high standard of London high standard accommodation facilities to stay in Bloomsbury and just stroll to Oxford Street to do his or her shopping.