News of Broad Street
Pictures
- Anthony Gormley statue placed on roof of Exeter College building, 15 February 2009
- Occupation of Clarendon Building by pro-Palestine students, 22 January 2009
- Continental market in Broad Street, 2008
- Luminox, 15–17 March 2007
- Hook Norton Brewery Dray, October 2005
- European Car-Free Day, September 2005
- Tree felling, August 2005
- Mike Woodin’s funeral cortège, July 2004
New Bodleian Library
The New Bodleian Library became Broad Street’s newest listed building in 2003. It is undergoing a huge renovation, and will be renamed the Weston Library)
- Oxford Mail, 27 May 2010: “Go-ahead for £78m Bodleian plan”
Oxford Story
The Oxford Story closed on 28 October 2007 after nearly 20 years of operation and having received two million visitors.
- Oxford Mail, 2 October 2007: “Oxford Story to close”
A plan for Broad Street
Kim Wilkie, a landscape and urban design consultant, undertook a £35,000 study of Broad Street for the Oxford Preservation Trust, with a view to improvements in paving surfaces, lighting, and traffic
- Oxford Mail, 16 March 2007: “Library plan will create new city square”
Clarendon Building refurbishment
A total of 45 staff were relocated so that a £1m refurbishment programme to restore the building could be implemented in 2005/6
- Oxford Mail, 14 February 2005: “Building not sinking into ‘sea of rumour’”
Sheldonian Theatre
The Sheldonian Theatre was closed until the beginning of December 2004 for structural repairs to the ceiling
In October 2003 it was named the most uncomfortable arts venue in the UK by listeners to Radio 4’s Front Row
- “Hard seating upsets arts lovers” (Radio Oxford)
Recycling
Ten tonnes of rubbish was dumped in Broad Street on Monday 19 July 2004 to promote recycling:
- “Waste eyesore ‘contains message’” (Oxford Mail, 19 July 2004)
Blackwell’s Bookshop
Blackwell’s celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2004. The shop at 50 Broad Street opened on 1 January 1870, and was taken over by Waterstones early in 2022.
Christmas lights
Broad Street (west of Turl Street) has had Christmas lights since 2003
Kettell Hall
The Lavender Garden of Kettell Hall was awarded an Oxford Preservation Trust award in September 2003. Paul Lawrence, Head Gardener of Trinity College, transformed this previously scruffy area that is visible from Broad Street
Boswell's becomeing The Store Hotel
Boswell's shop closed in 2019 and will reopen as The Store Hotel early in 2024.
Closure of Castell's shop after 180 years
Castell & Son, which had been at 13 Broad Street since at least 1846, closed in 2022.
Partial pedestrianization of Broad Street since 2021
Oxford City Council created “Broad Meadow” in Broad Street, and this remained in existence between July and October 2021.
In the autumn of 2022 Oxford County Council created a longer-lasting scheme which had permission to stay in place for up to eighteen months.
Oxfordshire County Council made the traffic and parking restrictions permanent in December 2023.
A Christmas Market is now held in Broad Street.
Links to other articles about Broad Street in the Oxford Mail archive
2003:
- “Blackwells enjoys ‘cracking’ Christmas” (20 January)
- “Designer to investigate Broad Street facelift” (15 February)
- “City streets need trees, says group” (21 April)
- “Tourism centre moves” (6 June)
- “City to get six more alcohol-free zones” (16 September)
2002:
- “Broad Street improvements to get under way” (25 January)
- “Spurned writer opens shop to taunt university” (27 April)
- “Street celebrates car-free day” (23 September)
- “Students criticise £30,000 gate plan” (9 October)
- “Plaque marks Oxfam pioneer” (21 November)
- “Shop steps into history” (21 November)
2001:
- “Broad Street outcry” (19 January)
- “Traders chalk up OTS victory” (3 February)
- “Martyrs’ statue may be moving” (15 February)
- “City tourist office to be moved” (5 April)
- “OTS has cut trade: judge” (9 July)
- “Parking to return to Broad Street” (27 July)
- “Traders’ joy at parking u-turn” (28 July)
- “Return to free parking on Broad Street welcomed” (24 August)
- “Oxford’s oldest bookshop to close down” (30 November)
The queue of people waiting outside Waterstone’s to have Lyra’s Oxford
signed
by Philip Pullman almost reaches Turl Street (November 2003)