The ‘superluminal’ motion observed in the cores of radio sources such as 3C273 is now accepted as evidence of relativistic motion within a few parsecs of the centre, but it is less clear whether such speeds persist out to kiloparsec scales. The one-sidedness of such sources is often cited as evidence of relativistic Doppler beaming, but could equally be intrinsic. New MERLIN maps of 3C273 at 151 MHz and 408 MHz have been made with dynamic range of 4.103:1 and 104:1 respectively. These show that (i) there is an extended region or lobe to the south of the main jet; (ii) the radio emission of the jet is continuous from the core to beyond the limit of the optical jet; (iii) no counter-component can be found in the opposite direction to the jet. The ridge-line of the jet shows a ‘wiggle’, the wavelength of which decreases by a factor of 6 along its length. This is interpreted as a deceleration of the bulk flow along the jet.