Under Oxford Street

What you are looking for is hopefully in the [b]sub-sub[b] basement and according to John Altman ( nasty nick from eastenders )there is a hatch in the floor dropping down.

If you check out the ' ghosts of oxford street ' thread there are a few pics to look at.

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Ahhhhhhh! how frustating that the last post here was back in February! I am glad I found this forum topic. I googled "1960's shopping parade under oxford street london" last night because yesterday I had a very interesting day! I went to view a premises (a restaurant space in Oxford Street) that has been closed for a number of years. The agent who was showing me again took me to the basement, and sub basement and to my surprise sub sub basement, which was full of water, and a big mess, and very dark. I asked him what this space would have been. He had no idea. He did however say that close by, underneath what is now PRIMARK (used to be C&A Marble Arch) there is a 2 storey 1960's shopping parade with its shopfronts etc. He handled the sale of the C&A building to Primark, and at the time (1 or 2 years ago i think) he had the opportunity to go down to the cobbled street through some sort of manhole that has since been covered up by Primark! However it is easily accessible if and when another retailer moves in and refurbishes etc. I asked him what it was like down there and he said it was pretty spooky and pretty amazing, and he saw some shop fronts etc. I asked him why Primark doesnt make use of this space and he said (as someone said in a post here) that most was filled with concrete and was un-usable. I am AMAZED that I havnt heard about this before as I have been reading about old London buildings for years! I worked at the Cafe Royal in Regent Street for a number of years, and the amounts of vaults and tunners and sub sub sub sub basements that exist there is incredible. I was always fascintated, and tempted to open door after door to see what was down the next corridor!
I really want to see The ghosts of Oxford Street as well now. I bought a rather bizarre film on dvd (unofficial copy from a flea market) called The London Nobody Knows. I think it was filmed in the 60's or early 70's. If you can find it, check it out! Very interesting! In addition, right now (July 2009) Waterstones are selling a photo book called Londinium 100 years at half price! (£7.50). This is 100 photos of London over 100 years. Very interesting!

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Welcome pruggg :wave:

It certainly is an interesting topic. I still find it fascinating, and when somebody posts on this thread it just sparks off the interest again.

I'd love to get something decent published on All In London about this.

AIL Staff

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I am the same i really want to know more about this..

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Also I forgot to mention, there is a programme on Sky Arts 1 everyday at 7pm called How London was Built, which gives a great insight into old London.

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To restart the thread is indeed a good thing

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nobody kept a copy of that robert elms show did they? I remember hearing him talking about this years ago, like 2003/2004. Pretty much all the stuff that's been documented here, including the stuff about it being under Lilley and Skinner, was said on the show back then, and if I remember rightly, they even got some HMV historian on to verify the story, but he sadly also said that the hidden street was demolished during renovations at some point. It's disappointing to hear that there's been no further progress on clarifying things, although the stuff about shops under Primark is very interesting, and more promising than the chance of finding anything under HMV.

One good thing I've found is that The Ghosts of Oxford Street is now on 4OD:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-ghosts-of-oxford-street/4od

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It is true, Oxpord street, or the presant one was built in Georgen times on top of what was alredy there, i dont think the land was very flat and was more eficent to build a new level platform than to shift tons of earth.
As far as i know some propertys on oxford street have access to the old ones underneath and used to use them as storage space and yes the story about beeing able to go from one property to another along the old streets is or at least was true.
I would imagen with such things as helth and safty and employe liabilaty most will by now have been sealed up.
There ia another street in Bristol that is the same but people used it to dump rubbish and i think its been filled now as there was some problem with the road subsiding
The one in london i suppose could make a tourest attraction but would need a large investmant

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Now that they have demolished the entire block of buildings next to Primark on Oxford Street, I wonder if anything will be uncovered. I presume they will have to do an Archeological Inspection of the site?

exciting!!

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Just some extra info for anyone interested. The street under lilley and skinner does/did exist. managed to get in there years ago.

I read an interview with someone (unfortuately can't remember who, but it was in connection with a music video I think) who discribed how they got into street connected with selfidges. they didn't talk about man hole, but rather going to a wall through a door, which lead into a corridor running length of wall. This then lead to a crawl space into the street. can't remember which wall, can only assume was front aspect (oxford street) and don't know which "floor" it was on.

another series of spaces that might are interesting to get into are the ones under the block where mapin and web is on regent street used to be able to get in via linen hall. managed to get to sub-sub-sub-sub basement level. It was very dark (suprise, suprise) and wet about 1 foot of water. there is suposed to be another sub under that, but I guess is full of water.

two interesting facts (well 2 me)relating to water level.

1) the brewing industry in london used to draw off the undergound water and this lowered/kept the water table down. maybe making these streets available
2)A brewery at the back of regent street helped in the formation of epidemiology. the workers drank beer didn't get cholera, the rest of the locals got there water from a pump (these ones got it) there's a plaque on the pump noel street/poland street area.

could post more on underground london, but probably bored everyone enough!

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