This website concerns the state of Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia.

15 years ago Lower Oxford Street was the coolest place to shop and safest place to party. It was the heart of the Gay & Lesbian Community. It was the place to come for designer clothes, imported music and great food. It was a haven that welcomed and embraced individuals without prejudice.

In 2008 this strip threatens to become nothing more than a destination for late night, violent drunken behaviour. This is at a time when both the City of Sydney and N.S.W. Government are desperately trying to curb late night, alcohol fuelled violence.

There are both external and internal factors causing this decline.

Externally, as greater populations move west to the satellite cities, malls are being built to cater for them. These negate the need for people to come into the Sydney for reasons other than weekend entertainment. Couple this with the sorry level of money spent on the marketing of NSW since the 2000 Olympics and you have a picture where there is a lack of both tourists and Sydneysiders in the central city.

This is a major issue for the entire city and solving it will require a concerted effort by all levels of government. It is also beyond the scope of this website to address. It is however the driving force behind what is going on, on Oxford Street.

Internally, a rather large cultural shift has left Oxford Street vulnerable to the general lack of visitation. This, a sad lack of strategic vision and a poorly managed infrastructure upgrade have all helped to push Oxford Street closer to becoming a solely night time economy.

It is not hopeless, but it does require action now.

In the following pages we set out the problems as we see them and more importantly, make suggestions on how to remedy them.

The Darlinghurst Business Partnership - a not for profit registered organisation of over 100 members representing the interests of small businesses in Sydney's Inner east.