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Shop changes:
1973 and 2008

 

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Jesus College's five-storey Cheng Yu Tung Building now stands on the site of the former Northgate House at 13–20 Cornmarket Street, plus No. 21 to the north. The above photograph shows it on 24 July 2022 when it had just been completed . It cost £40 million and was designed by MICA Architects. It won a Riba Award in May 2024.

The site of 13–20 Cornmarket Street on 4 December 2019, with a view through to Jesus College

View to the east from the new building

In 2023 the Cosy Club opened on the first floor of the building (approved planning application 23/02360/ADV for signage)..

Only one of the five units on the ground floor is occupied in 2025, namely the Seoul Plaza (Korea Foods Company Ltd) which opened in Unit 2 in 2024 (planning applications 24/01915/FUL and 24/01916/ADV).

There have been planning applications for Units 3, 4, & 5 relating to two banks that are currently elsewhere in Cornmarket:

• Unit 3 On 14 February 2023 planning permission (22/03058/FUL) was granted to HSBC Bank PLC  for change of use from retail to a banking facility)
• Units 4 & 5: In July 2024 an amendment was granted to the landlord Jesus College to allow the operation of a commercial retail bank here (19/03189/NMA3). On 22 October 2024 Barclays Bank was refused planning permission both for proposed shopfront alterations (24/02004/FUL) and signage (24/02005/ADV), but on 12 March 2025 planning permisson was agreed the shopfront (24/02925/FUL) and for signage (24/02926/ADV). It will be opening here on 21 July 2025.

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The former Northgate House (1963–2019)

In 1960 planning permission was granted to Marks & Spencer for the demolition of the nine existing shops at 13–20 Cornmarket and 11 Market Street and the redevelopment of the site as a retail store (60/10055/A_H), In 1963 the eight shops at 13–20 Cornmarket (in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church) plus No. 21 to the north were replaced by the giant block shown above, known as Northgate House.

A photograph showing this new block can be seen in Julie Kennedy, The Changing Faces of Oxford City Centre, Book 1, p. 45 (with the earlier Marks & Spencer shop at Nos. 18–20 shown in the photograph above on the same page).

Marks & Spencer only remained in this new block for thirteen years, and in 1976 it swapped its premises with those of the Co-op in Queen Street.

In 1985 the Co-op retreated to the basement of the building and only had a food hall. The retail area on the ground floor was let out as small separate shops (planning determination 84/00412/S; planning application 84/00844/NF; new shop fronts 84/00844/NF).

In 2001 Northgate House was purchased by Jesus College, and for fifteen years it remained in retail use. In 2016 the college was granted a certificate of immunity guaranteeing that there was no intention to list Northgate House, and then in August 2018 planning permission (18/00258/FUL) was granted for the following:

“demolition of the existing building to ground level and the erection of a replacement building to provide replacement commercial units on the basement, ground and first floors, and new teaching facilities, ancillary accommodation and student fellows rooms on the upper floors for Jesus College.”

• PDF by James Edgar (on behalf of Jesus College, Oxford):
  “Northgate House, 13–21 Cornmarket & 11–19 Market Street, Oxford: An Illustrated History”
• Oxford Mail, 2 March 2018:
  “REVEALED: New building on Cornmarket planned to create Oxford 'market quarter'”

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The shops numbered 13–21 that stood on the site of Northgate House prior to the early 1960s

For a sub-tour giving details of the occupants of the eight demolished shops on this site, which included two old pubs (the Bell and the Star & Garter) prior to the building of Northgate House, follow this pointer:

This 1901 photograph (Historic England CC72/00176) looking south shows the former shop at No. 22 on the left, which is immediately to the north of the development. Then come the range of buildings which once stood on the site of the Northgate House (now the Cheng Yu Tung Building). First is the White Hart Hotel at No. 21, then the Star & Garter Hotel at No. 20, Orpwood's saddler's shop at No. 19, and the Bell Inn at No. 18. The higher building next to that is Mosley the watchmakers at No. 17, and then comes Hills & Saunders at No. 16 and Viner the confectioner's shop at No. 15. Part of the shop of the wine merchant shop at Nos. 14 can be seen, but not No. 12 on the corner of Market Street.

This 1907 photograph (Historic England CC72/02299) looking north shows No. 13 on the corner of Market Street, followed by Nos. 14–20, and then the tall Buol's building at No. 21, which replaced the White Hart Hotel shown above very soon after that photograph was taken:.

The 1876 map (left) shows the eight shops (Nos. 13–20) that stood on the site, plus the White Hart at No. 21 marked Inn. The Star & Garter pub at No. 20 is marked P.H., and the Bell Inn at No. 18 to the south is marked Inn.

There were other casualties of this huge new development in Market Street, namely the Crown & Thistle public house at No. 10 next to Jesus College, Nos. 11, 12, & 13 Market Street (which formed the side of the old 1935 Marks & Spencer store), and five more shops at Nos. 14–18 Market Street.