W1 London news: Oxford Street's first traffic-free week, Soho Square scheme approved, Bancone for the old Debenhams (31 October 2026)
Oxford Street has been closed to traffic between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street since Monday 26 October, and the first week brought crowds, rerouted buses and a lot of cyclists ignoring the ban. Westminster approved a large office scheme on Soho Square, and the food news on Oxford Street, Regent Street and Princes Street kept coming.
Oxford Street went traffic-free on 26 October; cyclists still rode through on day two, with £160 fines yet to be issued
Almost 1km of Oxford Street, from Orchard Street to Great Portland Street, has been closed to cars, taxis, buses, bikes and e-scooters since Monday 26 October, run by the mayor's Oxford Street Development Corporation. Sadiq Khan called it a "momentous day for London". Servicing vehicles can enter from midnight to 7am and emergency services at any time.
Buses 98, 139 and 390 now run via Wigmore Street, with new stops on Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place. New taxi ranks are in Orchard Street, Holles Street and John Prince's Street, and the Duke Street rank has been extended. Residents' groups in Fitzrovia, Marylebone, Mayfair and Soho had opposed the scheme over displaced traffic, and the Fitzrovia News notes the diversions make no provision for cyclists.
The Evening Standard counted 51 cyclists riding through the zone between 8am and 9am on Tuesday 27 October. A penalty charge notice is £160, cut to £80 if paid within 14 days, but marshals were giving advice rather than fines that morning.
Sources: BBC News, 26 October 2026, The Fitzrovia News, 26 October 2026, Evening Standard, 27 October 2026.
Westminster approves the Twentieth Century House scheme on Soho Square, archway and all
Westminster City Council's planning committee approved the Royal London UK Real Estate Fund's plan for four linked buildings on Soho Square on Tuesday 27 October. 31-32 Soho Square, the former home of 20th Century Fox, and 65-66 Frith Street become an eight-storey building; 22-25 Dean Street and 10 Chapone Place are refurbished. The complex totals almost 9,000 square metres of offices and shops, with 150 long-stay cycle spaces, affordable workspace on Dean Street and a new courtyard by Chapone Place.
A new archway would open a walking route from Soho Square to Dean Street. The Soho Society opposes it, arguing the square is protected for "rest and recreation" under the London Squares Preservation Act 1931.
Source: BBC News (LDRS), 30 October 2026.
Bancone will open at the old Debenhams on Oxford Street in December, and Mei Mei takes over John Lewis's cafe from 4 November
Bancone's seventh fresh pasta restaurant will take the ground floor of The M Building, the former Debenhams at 334 Oxford Street, W1C 1JG, in December 2026: the first restaurant announced for the building. The menu follows the other branches, with one new dish for Oxford Street, an uncut sheet of Ravioles du Dauphiné with taleggio and pumpkin.
At John Lewis, 300 Oxford Street, Elizabeth Haigh's Mei Mei starts a three-month residency on 4 November with pulled pork sliders, fried chicken and hot honey pigs in blankets. Selfridges has turned its lower ground floor cafe into the New York-themed Downtown Cafe for Christmas, has a Ralph's Coffee pop-up on Duke Street until 17 November, and brings in East End cafe E Pellicci from 2 November for The Brass Rail's 60th birthday.
Sources: Hot Dinners, 26 October 2026, Hot Dinners, 27 October 2026, Hot Dinners, 28 October 2026.
Princes Street off Regent Street is fully let after four food and drink deals
The Crown Estate says Princes Street is now at full occupancy after four deals totalling more than 6,500 sq ft. SpudBros Express opened at 4 Princes Street earlier this year and No.1 Princes Street, a bagel house with a basement speakeasy, opened in October. Kazu, which already trades in Fitzrovia, is opening a Japanese restaurant at 6 Princes Street before Christmas, and matcha specialist SMATCHA is opening its first standalone flagship at number 3.
That takes the street to six food and drink operators, alongside Tendril and Bar Remo.
Source: The Crown Estate, 30 October 2026.
Burberry's 121 Regent Street flagship becomes Burberry House in autumn 2027, with the old Burberrys clock back over the door
Burberry will refurbish its Grade II listed flagship at 121 Regent Street in phases, staying open throughout, and reopen it as Burberry House in autumn 2027. Plans include a Trench Arcade with a bespoke trench service, an 1856 Gallery of archive pieces on the first floor mezzanine, a children's department and a Burberry Tea & Coffee.
The restored cast iron and opal glass "Burberrys" clock from the brand's first London store on Haymarket will be reinstated above the Regent Street entrance. Burberry moved to the building in 2012.
Heytea opened a two-storey lab on Shaftesbury Avenue on 30 October; Persephone Books returns to London in Fitzrovia on 4 November
Heytea's new London flagship at 118-120 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 5EP opened on 30 October. It is the chain's fifth lab outside China, with an ice cream parlour and three UK-only items, including a Rock Oolong caramel biscuit tea.
Persephone Books, which left Lamb's Conduit Street in 2021, reopens at 10am on Wednesday 4 November in the former Pollock's Toy Museum building behind Goodge Street. The frontage keeps its old red and yellow for now, as the owners do not yet have permission to change it.
Sources: Hot Dinners, 30 October 2026, Time Out London, 28 October 2026.
What this means for W1 visitors, residents and businesses
If you cycle across W1, plan to walk your bike between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street: fines are not being handed out yet, but the penalty is set at £160. Bus users on the 98, 139 and 390 should look for the new Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place stops. For eating out, the Selfridges and John Lewis pop-ups run through Christmas, Bancone's opening is a December date to watch, and Persephone Books is the reason to head to Goodge Street on 4 November.