Shopping independent in Oxford, from the Covered Market outwards

Oxford's big chains sit along Cornmarket and in the Westgate. Most of the shops that make the city feel like itself are a few minutes away, in the Covered Market and on the streets around it. Some of those businesses have been family-run for generations. Others opened in the last few years. Most are small enough that you are served by the person who chose the stock.

This guide works outwards from the market, area by area. It makes a good route for Christmas shopping, but none of these shops are seasonal. Each one is worth knowing about whatever the month.

The Covered Market: trading since 1774

The Oxford Covered Market came about through an Act of Parliament in 1771, which set out to clear the city's main streets of scattered stalls. The new market replaced the street markets in Fish Street and Butchers Row. Work on the foundations started in 1772, and the market officially opened on 1 November 1774. It was designed by John Gwynn, who was also the architect of Magdalen Bridge. It began as a meat market with twenty butchers' shops. Fruit, vegetables, fish and cheese came in during the 19th century, and cafés and non-food traders followed.

Very little of Gwynn's building survives beyond the High Street frontage, although the layout and stone foundations remain. In the 1830s Thomas Wyatt rebuilt and extended the market westwards, under an iron roof cast in 1839. Most of the avenues were rebuilt in the 1880s and 1890s, and the market was extended north to Market Street. It has been Grade II listed since 2000.

Today the market is in public ownership, with Oxford City Council as its landlord. Its official site lists more than 50 independent traders, many of them family businesses. The council is planning an improvement programme for the building and says the market will stay open while the work is done.

A few traders to look for:

• Cardew & Co: a third-generation family firm selling fine teas and freshly roasted coffees, plus the equipment to brew them.
• The Oxford Cheese Company: an artisan cheese shop near the Market Street entrance, trading since 1983.
• The Garden of Oxford: a florist specialising in British-grown flowers, with plants and pots too, and local delivery.
• Gulp Fiction: an independent bookshop that is also a coffee house and bar, with regular events.
• The Oxford Soap Company: a family business making handmade soaps and cosmetics, with private workshops.
• Covered Arts: bespoke picture framing, with work by local artists on show.
• Goodies Oxford: an independent menswear shop.

Objects of Use is just outside, on Market Street. It sells well-made, practical things for the kitchen, home and garden.

Turl Street and the High

Leave the market by the Market Street entrance and Turl Street is a few steps away.

• Scriptum Fine Stationery, at 3 Turl Street, sells journals, fountain pens, leather goods and writing paper by the sheet.
• Walters of Oxford, at 10 Turl Street, is a menswear shop that also hires out formal wear.
• Oxford Wine Company has a shop at 6 Turl Street.

The High Street has the city's most established independents.

• Payne & Son, at 131 High Street, goes back to 1790, when John Payne opened as a silversmith in Wallingford. The business moved to this shop in 1889 and is still run by the family. It sells 20th-century and contemporary silver and jewellery.
• Sanders of Oxford, in Salutation House at 104 High Street, has sold antique prints and maps since 1927. It also stocks work by contemporary printmakers.
• Shepherd & Woodward sells tailoring and academic dress.
• Antiques on High, at 85 High Street, is an antiques centre with more than 40 dealers under one roof.
• Babylon Trading, next door, sells gifts and homeware.
• Hoyle's of Oxford, at 71 High Street, sells board games, chess sets and jigsaws, both traditional and modern.
• Reginald Davis is a family jeweller at 34 High Street selling antique and modern jewellery, and doing repairs.

Little Clarendon Street and Jericho

Little Clarendon Street runs from Woodstock Road, at the top of St Giles, to Walton Street.

• Jericho Cheese Company started here and concentrates on British and Irish cheeses. It now has a second shop in the city centre, in St Michael's Mansions on Ship Street.
• Oxford Wine Company has another branch on the same street.

Walton Street, in Jericho proper, is better known for places to eat and drink, but there are good stops along the way.

• The Jericho Café is a neighbourhood café.
• Barefoot Bakery has a bakery and café here, known for its cakes.
• The Last Bookshop, at 25 Walton Street, sells new books upstairs and second-hand books downstairs, all at low prices.

Cowley Road and East Oxford

Cowley Road has a different character. It is busier, more mixed, and full of independent food shops.

• Truck Store, at 101 Cowley Road, is an independent record shop selling vinyl and CDs. It regularly puts on in-store gigs.
• Il Principe, at 82 Cowley Road, is an Italian delicatessen that also serves food.

Turn off onto Magdalen Road for two more.

• Caper is a bookshop with a strong children's range, things to make and do, and a programme of events.
• Löfgrens Nordic Style sells Nordic-style homeware and gifts.

Summertown and North Parade

Summertown's independents are spread along the Banbury Road and South Parade.

• Gatineau, at 209 Banbury Road, is a French bakery and patisserie.
• Kitchen Food Company, at 215 Banbury Road, is a deli and bistro.
• Grape Minds, at 35 South Parade, is an independent wine merchant that also runs tastings.

On the way back into town, Oxford Yarn Store at 1 North Parade Avenue is worth the detour for knitters. It specialises in natural fibres and British wool, and runs workshops and social events.

Before you go

• Check opening times before you travel. Several of these shops close one or two days a week, and Covered Market traders set their own hours within the market's.
• Many of the shops are small and in old buildings. If you need step-free access or space for a pushchair or wheelchair, ask the shop before you visit.
• Several businesses here also sell online or deliver locally. If you can't get into town, it is worth asking.

You can find more of the city's independents in our independent shops directory, and more about the city on our Oxford page.

Cover photo: the Covered Market, by Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.