Off the beaten Oxford
Some rounds less travelled
Exploring the Cowley Road
Start your stroll at the vintage and retro shops on St Clement’s, just beyond Magdalen Bridge, where Oxford’s bohemian spirit begins. Wander past charity shops and independent stores, then follow Cowley Road as it fills with quirky boutiques, world-food restaurants, lively pubs, and the iconic Pegasus Theatre up by Magdalen Road.
Getting there: From Carfax, take bus 1, 5, 10, or U5 along the High Street, hop off just after The Plain roundabout for St Clement’s.
Parking: There’s convenient paid parking behind Tesco (Union Street) or Manzil Way. Cowley Road is best explored on foot, so park once and enjoy a leisurely walk through one of Oxford’s most vibrant and diverse neighbourhoods.
From St Clement’s to the Cowley Road:
Cross Magdalen Bridge and you leave behind the dreaming spires for something altogether earthier, East Oxford, where incense mingles with coffee and laughter spills from doorways painted in every shade of sun and storm.
At the foot of Cowley road is a fantastic Vintage shop, where rails of silk, tweed, and sequins whisper of decades past. Further up the Cowley Road are lots of Oxfam shops with bric a brac, Books & Music.
The Cowley Road is where Radiohead, Foals, and Supergrass once tuned their guitars in basements and back rooms, and where ideas still fizz in cafés over oat-milk lattes and pints in the cafes and pubs..
At Truck Store, part record shop, part temple to indie music, staff can tell you who’s playing at The O2 Academy that night. Around the corner.
Restaurants from all over the world are good value and sometimes excellent and authentice. Half exotic, half Oxford bohemia.
On the turn offs are rows of Victorian terraces. Student bicycles outside many. Here is more affordable housing for students.
Cutting across to London Road I love Cuttlefish, Oxford’s only seafood restaurant..
By the time you reach Magdalen Road, you’ve walked through Oxford’s hidden symphony, part global bazaar, part urban village. Here stands the Pegasus Theatre, long a champion of experimental and youth performance and renowned for its early collaborations with cutting-edge companies such as Théâtre de Complicité, nurturing Oxford’s reputation for bold and imaginative theatre.