Empress up a street doing U-turn (8)
I believe the answer is:
tsaritsa
'empress' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Russian empress ' mean 'tsaritsa' so perhaps 'empress' could also mean 'tsaritsa')
'up a street doing u-turn' is the wordplay.
'up' becomes 'astir' ('astir' can be a synonym of 'up'**).
'street' becomes 'st'.
'doing u-turn' says the letters should be written backwards.
'astir'+'a'+'st'='astirast'
'astirast' written backwards gives 'TSARITSA'.
(Other definitions for tsaritsa that I've seen before include "Royal lady" , "ruler's consort" , "Russian empress" .)