Anyone familiar with the Batman movies will know the one in which Jack Nicholson, playing the role of the Joker, heads into Gotham with a load of sinister-jolly balloons that spray poison gas onto the celebrating street revellers. Take an evening walk down Carnaby Street at the moment and something of the kind may well spring to mind.

This was the epicentre of 1960s cool, along with the King’s Road, and as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, this year the Christmas-themed inflatables that fill the air overhead carry messages such as “Love”, accompanied by groovy daisy graphics. Whether you like this or not, it is bang on as a homage to the street’s reputation and is better, in its way, than either Regent or Oxford Street’s attempts at festive fun.

And yet, just as in the Batman films, there is something vaguely unsettling about the pink Bambi with white horns and tail that almost bridges the gap between the two sides of this pedestrianised fashion street.

But as all good decorations, whether in a shopping street or a store, should do, the overall effect is surprise. There is, with the exception perhaps of South Molton Street, something almost entirely predictable about the Christmas bunting to be found in the West End. But Carnaby Street stops visitors in their tracks.

This is a fashion street where expectations among tourists and locals are high. And although it has certainly raised its game over the past couple of years, there have been frequent complaints that it has never managed to recapture its summer of love cachet. However, at present there is much to commend it.