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How Britain’s premier shopping destination is gripped by homeless crisis: Doorways of Oxford Street stores are taken over by boxes and sleeping bags as number of rough sleepers rises


Harrowing photos have revealed the shocking scale of the homelessness crisis gripping Oxford Street as the number of rough sleepers rises across London.

Images taken at daybreak today show large numbers of people lying on makeshift mattresses in shop doorways, with five set up outside one menswear store alone.

Others can be seen using cardboard boxes, umbrellas and upturned shopping trollies to try to screen off an area where they can shelter from the wind and rain.

While still considered Britain’s premier shopping destination, the twin impacts of Covid and the shift to online shopping have left Oxford Street a shadow of its former self – with a rash of empty shops and tacky American candy stores replacing household names including Topshop and Debenhams.

The road has also been hit by London’s worsening homelessness crisis, with the number of people sleeping rough in the capital over spring and early summer up 12 per cent on the same period last year.

Read more: How Britain’s premier shopping destination is gripped by homeless crisis: Doorways of Oxford Street stores are taken over by boxes and sleeping bags as number of rough sleepers rises