Oxford Street and other areas of Central London such as Bond Street and Piccadilly due to "pickpocketing, fraud and theft". The advent of closed-circuit television has reduced the area's attraction to scam artists and illegal street traders. Every Christmas, Oxford Street is decorated with festive lights. The tradition of Christmas lights began in 1959, five years after neighbouring Regent Street. There were no light displays in 1976 or 1977 because of economic recession, but the lights returned in 1978 when Oxford Street organised a laser display, and have continued every year since. Current practice involves a celebrity turning the lights on in
Market Street, Oxford Market Street, Oxford Market Street runs east-west in central Oxford, England. The street lies north of the Covered Market, a historic roofed market with permanent stalls that is still very much active today, and north of Lincoln College's Lincoln House accommodation complex. To the west is the major pedestrianised shopping street, Cornmarket Street, and to the east is Turl Street. On the north side of the street is Jesus College, one of Oxford University's historic colleges with its main entrance in the Turl. The Market Tavern (formerly the City Tavern, Bar Oz and the Roebuck public house) was once located