No. 56: Oxfam Bookshop
At the time of the 1772 survey, the street to the south of this building (now Pusey Street, but originally called Alfred Street) did not exist, and the premises of No. 56 (the house and timber yard of Mr Howell) extended southwards to No. 57.
No. 56 is today a large corner building facing on to Pusey Street as well as St Giles. It was built around 1800, and is a Grade II listed building (List Entry No. 1369440). It lies in St Giles' parish, and is now owned by Regent’s Park College.
This was a grocer’s shop for many years. On 5 July 1828 George Bridges described himself as a grocer and tea dealer and announced that he would be opening his shop in St Giles' Street on Wednesday 9 July 1828. He is duly listed as a grocer & tea dealer in Pigot's 1830 directory, and his address is specified as 56 St Giles' Street in Robson's Commercial Directory for 1839.
George Fox Bridges is listed as a grocer in St Giles as early as 1830, and he was probably already in this shop. He was certainly here at the time of the 1841 census, when he was aged about 35 and living here with Esther and Ann Bridges (presumably his mother and sister), an independent lady, two young grocers, and two servants. There also appears to be an elderly independent lady called Mary Turner living with her servant in another part of the house.
In 1851 Bridges was living here with his brother John (a portrait painter), his unmarried sister Mary, and his sister Ann, who had married the Revd Arrowsmith. They had one servant.
On 25 June 1854 George Bridges announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal that after 25 years he had relinquished his business to John Nalder, who had worked for him for over ten years. Bridges retired to 43 St Giles’, where he died at the age of 56 on 4 December 1862. His name in the death announcement was given as George Fox Bridges.
The 1861 census shows John Nalder (42), who was born in Ducklington, living over his grocer's shop here with his wife Elizabeth Moulden Nalder (44) and a shopman, an apprentice, and a servant. The situation was similar at the time of the 1871 census.
Right: Portrait of Mary Nalder, probably painted by John Bridges (George Bridges’ brother)
Aquarelle nr. 16 name “Mary Nalder”, no signature on the front. Size: 12 x 14 cm
By 1878 Alfred Louch was the grocer here. The 1881 census describes him as employing three men and one boy and here and his wife Sarah and their two daughters were living over the shop with their two servants.
The next grocer here was Arthur Cook, a grocer from Great Yarmouth who bought the good-will of the buiness for £515. He went bankrupt in 1887 and took up farming at Hampton Gay. He died here at 56 St Giles' Street att the age of 32 on 14 October 1888.
At the time of the 1891 census Mrs Ann Cook, a widow of 41, was the grocer here, and she also kept a lodging house upstairs. Her sister-in-law Miss Constance Cook (40) lived here as her companion, and they had three servants (a trained nurse, a kitchen maid, and a housemaid). The situation was much the same in 1901, except that Miss Cook was now described as Mrs Cook's housekeeper, and they had just two servants. By the time of the 1911 census Mrs Cook was described only as a licensed lodging-house keeper, and living separately in the house was the widow Fanny Lardner Clarke (77) and her daughter Frances. In 1921 Mrs Cook (73) was still living here described as a grocer with her servant. She died near the beginning of 1923.
From 1925 to 1945 this grocer's shop was in the hands of the Chandler family. The photograph below (taken from a F. Frith & Co postcard) shows the shop in about 1930, when it was W. H. Chandler's grocer's shop with a private hotel upstairs.
In 1987 the shop was opened by John Mortimer as the first of Oxfam’s 76 specialist charity bookshops. In 2004 it was reported as selling up to 2,000 books a week and making a profit of about £200,000 a year. It pays full rent for the shop to Regent’s Park College, but all the stock is donated, and it is run by 75 volunteers and just one paid manager.
A planning application submitted b Regent's Park College (26/00282/FUL) for “Change of use of basement and ground floor from sales of goods (Use Class E (a)) to provision of education (Use Class F1(a)) was refused on 1 April 2026. .
Occupants of 56 St Giles’ Street listed in censuses and directories |
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Downstairs |
Upstairs |
|
1830–1852+ |
George Fox Bridges |
Private |
1861–1876 |
John Nalder |
|
1878–1881 |
Alfred Louch |
|
1881–1923 |
Arthur Cook to 1888 |
|
1925–1945 |
William Henry Chandler (1925–1930) |
St Giles Mrs D. Bliss Rita & Peter Oxford |
1947–1956 |
R. Stanley Cleaver |
|
1958–1976 |
Wimpy Bar |
|
Late 1970s–1982 |
? |
|
1987–present |
Oxfam Bookshop |
College flats with No. 55 |