Oxford Street Shuts Half the Day on a Sunday

Oxford Street trades for about twelve and a half hours a day from Monday to Saturday. On a Sunday it manages six, and it does not open until half eleven or noon.

That is the single most useful thing to know about Britain’s busiest shopping street, and it catches out anyone who arrives on a Sunday morning expecting the same street they saw on a Saturday. Here is what the shops themselves publish.

The hours, from the shops

Zara runs 9.30am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 11.30am to 6pm on Sunday. That is twelve and a half hours against six and a half, and Zara has four separate stores on this street.

Selfridges is the latest on a weekday, 10am to 10pm Monday to Friday, but it closes an hour earlier on Saturday at 9pm and runs 11.30am to 6pm on Sunday. A Saturday evening at Selfridges is shorter than a Tuesday one, which is the opposite of what most people assume.

Uniqlo runs 10am to 9pm Monday to Saturday across its three Oxford Street stores, with Sunday at noon to 6pm at one and 11.30am to 6pm at the others.

Adidas is 10am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and noon to 6pm on Sunday, and it publishes the same noon to 6pm for bank holidays, which almost nobody else bothers to state.

The pattern is consistent enough to plan on: assume a 9.30am or 10am start and an 8pm or 9pm finish Monday to Saturday, and a six hour Sunday beginning at 11.30am at the earliest.

Why Sunday is short

This is not the street being lazy. Large shops in England are limited to six hours of Sunday trading by law, which is why every big store on Oxford Street lands on the same rough window and why the difference between a Saturday and a Sunday here is not marginal but roughly half.

The practical consequence is that Sunday is the worst day to come and the best day to walk it. Six hours of trading concentrates the same crowd into half the time. If the shopping is the point, come on a weekday. If looking at the street is the point, Sunday morning before half eleven is the emptiest it gets in daylight.

Oxford Street

Address

Oxford Street, London W1, running from Marble Arch in the west to Tottenham Court Road in the east

Nearest

Marble Arch, Bond Street, Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road all sit on the street itself

Hours

John Lewis, the one large store whose hours are readable on its own site, runs 10am to 8pm Monday to Saturday with a late Thursday to 9pm, and 11.30am to 6pm on Sunday. Treat that as the shape of the street rather than 9pm or 10pm closes, which are rarer than they used to be. Selfridges no longer keeps a working store hours page. Bank holidays generally follow Sunday hours

Booking

Nothing to book. Four tube stations serve it directly, which is more than any other shopping street in Britain

Price

Free to walk. The shops are the expense

Standing

Britain’s busiest shopping street, with multiple branches of the same retailers along its length

How to get in

Two practical points beyond the hours. First, several retailers run more than one store on the same street: Zara has four and Uniqlo three, so a shop being full does not mean the brand is unavailable, it means you should walk two minutes. Second, the street is served by four underground stations along its own length, which means you never need to walk the whole mile and a half: pick the station nearest the shop you actually want. Marble Arch for the west end of it, Bond Street for the middle and Selfridges, Oxford Circus for the centre, Tottenham Court Road for the east.

What is happening to the street

There is a long running plan to pedestrianise part of it, and it is worth knowing about before you plan a visit around traffic or buses.

It has moved a long way since this page last looked. City Hall now publishes a settled answer: the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street is going ahead, confirmed by the Mayor in February after a second consultation on the highway changes. Note the eastern end: Great Portland Street, not Regent Street as the earlier proposals had it.

There is now a body running it. The Oxford Street Development Corporation was established on 1 January 2026 and held its first board meeting that month, after the Mayor designated the street a Mayoral Development Area in July 2025. The consultation behind all this drew over 6,000 responses, with almost 70 per cent of Londoners backing the corporation and two thirds backing pedestrianisation itself.

What is still not published is a completion date. City Hall says it wants the changes delivered as quickly as possible and nothing more precise than that, so treat any specific date you read elsewhere with caution and check Transport for London for bus diversions on the day you travel.

What to know

Weekdays for shopping, Sunday for walking. Twelve and a half hours against six, with the same number of people.

Sunday starts at 11.30am at the earliest. Several stores do not open until noon. There is no early Sunday on Oxford Street.

Bank holidays follow Sunday hours at the stores that publish them, so a bank holiday Monday is a six hour day rather than a twelve hour one.

Selfridges closes earlier on Saturday than on a weekday. 9pm against 10pm. If you want a late Selfridges, go midweek.

Use the right station. Four serve the street directly. Walking its full length and back is close to three miles.

The same shop twice is normal here. Zara has four stores, Uniqlo three. A queue at one is not a reason to give up.

Everything here was taken from the shops’ own published opening hours and from City Hall’s published material, and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Individual store hours vary and change at Christmas. Confirm before a special trip.

London dress codes covers what any of it is for, and which rooms in this city still expect a jacket.

The best bookshops in London covers a calmer kind of shopping, and Daunt Marylebone keeps longer weekday hours than most of this street.

Where to go next

Regent Street Cinema is two minutes from Oxford Circus, and it is where British cinema began in 1896.

Moco Museum is at the Marble Arch end, open to 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Harrods is the other end of London shopping and opens seven days, and Jermyn Street is the specialist version: shirtmakers, a cheesemonger trading since 1797, and Saturday opening that Savile Row does not manage.

Savile Row is five minutes south of Oxford Circus and keeps office hours, and the best barbers cover the grooming end of the same trip.

Shopping in London explains why a Sunday here is a waste of an afternoon: a shop over 280 square metres may trade for six consecutive hours only, between 10am and 6pm, while the specialist streets have no restriction at all.

The best coffee shops include two Kaffeine rooms five minutes from Oxford Circus, and Hyde Park starts at Marble Arch, at the western end of the street.

Questions we get asked

What time does Oxford Street open?

There is no single answer because it is a street rather than a building, but the large stores cluster tightly. John Lewis, the one whose hours are readable on its own site today, runs 10am to 8pm Monday to Saturday with a late Thursday to 9pm and 11.30am to 6pm on Sunday. Several of the others no longer publish store hours in a form you can read from a desk, so check the specific shop rather than the street.

What are Oxford Street Sunday opening hours?

About six hours, typically 11.30am or noon until 6pm. Zara, Selfridges and two of the three Uniqlo stores open at 11.30am, while Adidas and one Uniqlo open at noon. All close at 6pm. Large shops in England are limited to six hours of Sunday trading by law, which is why the whole street lands on the same window.

Is Oxford Street open on bank holidays?

Yes, but on Sunday hours rather than weekday ones at the stores that publish them. Adidas states noon to 6pm for bank holidays, matching its Sunday. Assume a six hour bank holiday rather than a full day, and check individual stores if you are making a special trip.

What is the nearest tube to Oxford Street?

Four stations sit on the street itself, which is unusual. Marble Arch serves the western end, Bond Street the middle and Selfridges, Oxford Circus the centre where it crosses Regent Street, and Tottenham Court Road the eastern end. Pick the one nearest the shop you want rather than walking the length, which is about a mile and a half each way.

Is Oxford Street being pedestrianised?

Yes, and it is past the proposal stage. The Mayor confirmed in February that pedestrianisation between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street will go ahead, after a second consultation on the traffic changes, and the Oxford Street Development Corporation was set up on 1 January 2026 to deliver it. What City Hall has not published is a completion date: it says only that it wants the work done as quickly as possible.

Which is the best day to go to Oxford Street?

A weekday, if you are shopping. The stores trade for twelve and a half hours against six on a Sunday, and the crowd is spread across the day rather than compressed into an afternoon. If you want to see the street rather than shop it, Sunday morning before 11.30am is the quietest it gets in daylight, because nothing has opened yet.