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It's the UK's best-known and most enduringly popular shopping thoroughfare – a mile-long shop window for some of the world's biggest retail brands.
asserted
It → see → brands
But by night Oxford Street is increasingly being transformed into the sort of squalid slum more associated with the London of Charles Dickens than 21st century commerce.
asserted
Street → transform → commerce
Gangs of homeless migrant beggars have taken to sleeping rough under the canopies along the street, congregating particularly outside the flagship branch of Marks & Spencer close to Marble Arch.
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Gangs → take → Arch
When the Daily Mail visited the famous retail hub over several nights this week, among the distressing spectacles we witnessed were: two women openly using the street as a toilet, another vomiting onto the road and a man waving a wad of cash apparently won in illegal card games.
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women → visit → games
These are the inhabitants of a slum 'village' in the western stretch of Oxford Street where rows of makeshift 'beds' made from blankets or mattresses laid over wooden pallets are flagrantly set up each evening.
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rows → make → pallets
The two women seen relieving themselves – in a gap between public benches apparently earmarked as the camp toilet – were using abandoned supermarket shopping trolleys to move their belongings.
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women → see → belongings
When the Daily Mail visited Oxford Street this week, we found a homeless encampment - and witnessed two women using a gap between public benches as a toilet
Another resident of the slum village on one of the country's most popular retail hubs which attracts tourists from all over the world could be seen vomiting on to the road
Homeless migrant beggars have taken to sleeping rough under the canopies along the street
A card game in which hundreds of pounds appeared to change hands went on from midnight until 6am despite it being illegal to gamble for cash in a public space
A man was seen waving a wad of cash around which he apparently won in the illegal card game
Despite their apparent destitution, many of those occupying the beds could be seen scrolling on iPhones.
A card game meanwhile – in which hundreds of pounds appeared to change hands – went on from midnight until 6am despite it being illegal to gamble for cash in a public space.
And it's at this point in the 24-hour cycle that Oxford Street begins to return to something more like normal.
uncertain
Street → visit → something
Because soon after 6am various individuals – workers from the stores as well as council workers – emerge to try to persuade the slumbering homeless to move on.
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individuals → emerge → homeless
And most do, stashing their bedding and walking the short distance to Marble Arch or Oxford Circus to set up begging pitches – though others are thought to be pickpockets, like the Fagin gang in Dickens's Oliver Twist.
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others → do → Twist
One commuter, who passes through Oxford Street shortly after 6am every day on his way to work, says the scenes we witnessed have become a grimly familiar part of his daily morning journey to work.
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we → pass → work
He says the encampment has been there for months now, but that recently it has begun to get bigger, meaning conditions are deteriorating rapidly.
'It has really escalated in recent weeks,' he told the Daily Mail.
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he → say → Mail
'At first they were just sleeping there, drinking and eating, but now they are using the street as a toilet and there are all-night drinking gambling sessions going on as well.
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they → sleep → toilet
You come through here first thing in the morning and you just cannot believe what you are seeing.
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you → come → what
It is supposed to be one of the best shopping streets in the world.
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It → suppose → world
'They're about to spend £150million to partly pedestrianise it to make Oxford Street more attractive to tourists and shoppers - but if that's the plan they really need to get rid of this squalor.'
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they → spend → squalor
Unlike the traditional image of rough sleepers – those who have fallen on hard times after a personal financial crisis or mental health episode – many of those on Oxford Street are said to have electively set up there, resisting efforts to get them into secure accommodation.
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many → fall → accommodation
Another office worker who starts at 6am told us: 'I have seen people repeatedly crouching down to use the seating areas on Oxford Street as toilets.
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people → start → toilets
Yesterday morning, at about 6.10am, there were around eight men still awake after what appeared to have been an all-night card game outside M&S.
'
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what → be → M&S.
They had wads of cash in their hands.
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They → have → hands
I would estimate there was about £500 in each pile.
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I → estimate → pile
They were arguing over who had won what and shouting at each other.
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who → argue → other
'And there's a sense of menace if you get too close.
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you → be → menace
I have been spat on, shouted at, threatened all sorts, just for passing by.
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I → spit → ?
'I would not want to walk past there if I were a woman.
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I → want → ?
I cannot understand why these people are just allowed to effectively live there.
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people → understand → ?
Why can't they be moved?'
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they → move → ?
Another worker told us: 'Between about 6am and 8am they start waking up under their duvets.
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they → tell → duvets
Then on waking they want to relieve themselves.
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they → wake → themselves
I have seen men and women defecating in the street, and it's a daily occurrence to see them urinating.
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them → see → street
This is one of the best-known shopping streets in the world.
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This → know → world
Tourists come here from everywhere and you have people potentially sitting down where human waste has been left.'
The commuter said the group appears to move between Oxford Street, Marble Arch and Park Lane, often using shopping trolleys to transport bedding and other belongings.
'
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group → come → bedding
They beg, steal and lash out at anyone getting too close or daring to take photos,' he said.
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he → beg → photos
'Sometimes there might be about 20 people, but at other times I have seen what looks like 50 or 60.
uncertain
what → see → 50
They use shopping trolleys to move their bedding around.
asserted
They → use → bedding
They drink there, eat there and sleep there overnight, then during the day they move around again.'
asserted
they → drink → day
The commuter also said that shop staff arriving for early shifts are frequently forced to make their way through the groups to get to their workplace.
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staff → say → workplace
'You have got staff trying to get into work in the morning who have to run the gauntlet to get past them,' he said.
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he → get → them
'I have been spat at and I have seen them shouting at people.
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them → spit → people
'Police will move them on, but then they can be back 20 minutes later.
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they → move → them
'If I were a tourist and I stepped in human waste on Oxford Street, I would be furious.
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I → step → Street
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
