London First

In 2012 the eyes of the world will be firmly focused on London.  The West End will be the place where most Olympic visitors will stay, shop, dine and enjoy cultural entertainments.  We need, therefore, to ensure the West End lives up to its world class reputation.

We must make central London as attractive and welcoming as possible by using the Olympics to sharpen the focus on maximising the capital’s ‘visitor experience’

Key pre-2012 initiatives to improve London include:

• improving public realm
• improving public wayfinding
• addressing traffic congestion in Oxford Street and Regent Street
• improving London’s cultural offer
• increasing the quality and range of hotel accommodation and tourism facilities
• improving customer service skills

London First has set up a new taskforce - WESt - consisting of key private and public sector stakeholders.  The group will develop an action plan, mapping and integrating related West End initiatives – to reduce duplication, increase communication and accelerate delivery.

This is just one strand of our wider work to ensure the capital extracts the best long term benefit from hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 – read more

For more information on our project to improve the West End please contact

Cynthia Grant - WESt Project Director (public realm)
Mem Baybars - WESt Transport Director (West End traffic management)