George Street, Oxford

Overview

Its eastern end meets Broad Street at a crossroads with Cornmarket Street to the south and Magdalen Street to the north. Its western end meets Hythe Bridge Street at a crossroads with Worcester Street.

The New Theatre Oxford, Oxford's main commercial theatre, is on the north side of the street. For a period, it was the Apollo Theatre but it has regained its earlier name. The Burton Taylor Studio is in Gloucester Street, which runs off the north side of George Street. Number 40 on the north side is occupied by Arts at the Old Fire Station.

Gloucester Green bus station is off the north of George Street at the western end. Companies including the Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach in Oxfordshire operate services from here.[[File:The Grapes, George Street - geograph.org.uk - 1215808.jpg|thumb|upright|The Grapes [[public house]] on George Street.]]

History

George Street is outside the formerly walled section of Oxford, running parallel with the medieval wall. Buildings on the south side of the street occupy plots that were formerly part of the defensive ditch outside the wall.

The former City of Oxford High School for Boys building on the south side of the street was designed by T. G. Jackson and built in 1880-81. In 1966, the school moved to the Southfields Grammar School site and its former building became the University of Oxford Classics Department. Since 2007, the building has housed the University's Faculty of History.

W.F. Lucas' ready-to-wear clothing factory on the south side of the street was designed by Harry Drinkwater and built by local contractor T. H. Kingerlee in 1892. As a factory, 300 employees worked on the site. It is now divided into multiple retail and office premises.

The brick buildings of the former fire station and Corn Exchange on the north side of the street were designed by H.W. Moore and built in 1894. By 1974, the fire station had moved to Rewley Road and its former building had been converted to a community arts centre (Arts at the Old Fire Station) run by the charity Oxford Area Arts Council and used occasionally by Anvil Productions, the Oxford Playhouse Company, for rehearsals.

The present New Theatre was built in 1933. It is the third New Theatre on the site, replacing successive buildings completed in 1836 and 1886.

The Ritz Cinema on the north side of George Street was built in 1936. From 2000 to 2025, the building was occupied by an Odeon cinema.

References

Sources

References

1. "Walking directions to George St". [[Google]].
2. [http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/george_street/ George Street], [http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/ Oxford History]
3. Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, p. 303
4. Woolley, 2010, page 88
5. Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 324
6. (24 April 1936). "New Oxford Cinema Opened". [[The Oxford Times]].
7. (28 December 2024). "Oxford residents react to ‘huge loss’ of Oxford Odeon to be demolished". Oxford Mail.