33–34 Cornmarket Street: Shake Shack
.
The two shops were rebuilt in c.1937 and have been united since the 1940s. The British Shoe Corporation put in the present shop front in 1981.
The former eighteenth-century building on this site, which comprised two shops numbered 33 and 34, used to be attached to the building at No. 35 to the south: see photograph of No. 34 by Michael Bunney in Malcolm Graham, “Bunney and Pearce's forgotten 1930s survey”, Oxoniensia 84 (2019), 96.
For leases granted by the city council for the property at 33–35 Cornmarket Street from 1610 to 1849, see H. E. Salter, Oxford City Properties, pp. 238–240, which describes how there was a dancing school and gymnasium on the second floor.
These premises are in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church.
Former No. 33
From 1861 Martin Coles, a “photo chemist” with portrait rooms and also a perambulator maker, was at No. 33.
The advertisement on the right appeared on the front page of Jackson's Oxford Journal on 1 August 1863.
In 1864 he advertised that he also sold rocking horses, toys, dolls, work boxes, writing desks, brushes & combs, and Christmas tree ornaments, and in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 16 December 1865 he broke out into six-stanza verse about all the children's Christmas presents he had on offer.
Martin Thomas Coles, described as a toy dealer, photographer, and hairdresser now out of business, was adjudicated bankrupt on 13 May 1869.
Henry Taunt had his photographer’s shop here by 1868, before moving to 9 & 10 Broad Street in 1874.
This Historic England photograph (CC51/00703) shows No. 33 in 1874 just after Henry Taunt had moved out, as the sign in the window redirects people to his new shop in Broad Street:
This Historic England photograph (CC75/00147) shows No. 33 in c.1910 with the sign of Edwin Saunders, spectacle maker, with the corn merchant Thomas Grubb at No. 34 on the left:
George Bateman the optician opened here in 1921.
Former No. 34
Henry Alden, the founder of the Alden Press printing firm, opened his first bookshop opposite the Town Hall in St Aldate's Street in 1832. By September 1835 he had moved to Cornmarket Street, and Robson's Directory for 1839 lists him here at No. 34. At the time of the 1841 census he was living here with his wife Elizabeth, their three children, plus an apprentice, two servants, and a lodger. On 7 May 1842 Alden published a notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal stating that he was holding a sale on the premises at No. 34 of many books, as he was giving up the trade of bookseller and moving to Queen Street, where he would in future continue only with the stationery & printing business. By 1861 he had moved again, to nearby 35 Cornmarket Street.
Samuel Steane announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 29 July 1848 that he had reopened his wine porter, and ale vaults here at 34 Cornmarket Street. Less than three months later, on 11 October 1848, he died at the age of 48 and his widow Mrs Jane Steane took over the business. On 1 May 1858 Mrs Steane announced that she had sold her business to the Oxfordshire Wine Company of 42 Cornmarket Street.
The baker Thomas Grubb had his shop at No. 34 from c.1860 and the business continued to bear his name until c.1940. The upper part of his shop can be seen on the right below (Historic England BUN01/01/076):
Grubb suffered in the bread riots of 1867, and the Oxford Chronicle of 16 November that year reports that:
… an immense crowd, numbering about 600 or 800 men and boys, with a sprinkling of women, rushed along Cornmarket Street to the shop of Alderman Grubb, baker, amidst hooting and yelling and cries of ‘We’ll have our rights’. We want cheap bead’; etc. The shop was, of course, closed; but the upper windows were speedily riddled with stones and threats of firing his premises were made.
For a drawing from the Police Review showing Grubb’s shop being attacked by rioters in November 1867, see Malcolm Graham, Images of Victorian Oxford, page 147.
Occupants of 33 and 34 Cornmarket Street listed in directories etc. |
||
Date |
No. 34 (left) | No. 33 (right) |
1839–1858 |
The arrangement of these two shops is confusing in this period, with the numbers 33 & 34 appearing to be interchangeable Samuel Steane Henry Alden On 17 June 1843 the draper |
|
1861–1867 |
Thomas Grubb |
Martin Coles |
1868–1874 |
Henry W. Taunt |
|
1880 |
J. Banner |
|
1890 |
Mrs A. E. Solloway |
|
1899–1907 |
Walter Blackall |
|
1909 |
Ravenscroft & Fraser |
|
1911–1914 |
Edwin Saunders |
|
1921–1936 |
George Bateman & Co. |
|
These two shops were then demolished and replaced by one shop |
||
1938–1972 |
Dolcis Shoe Co, Boot makers |
|
1973–1976 |
Manfield & Sons Ltd, Bootmakers |
|
1981–1987 |
British Shoe Corporation |
|
1992 |
Remainders Ltd |
|
1999–2005 |
The Outdoor Group |
|
2007–2010 |
Free Spirit |
|
2011–2020 |
Pandora (moved to Westgate Centre) |
|
2021–2022 |
Vacant |
|
2023– |
Shake Shack |
|
Former Nos. 33–34 Cornmarket Street in the censuses
1841
No 33: Does not appear to be listed
No. 34 was occupied by the bookseller Henry Alden (30) and Elizabeth (24), Henry (5), Edward (3), and Sarah (1). An apprentice and an independent person also lived with them, and they had two female servants.
1851
No. 33: Described as “house of business, not slept in”.
No. 34: The widowed wine merchant Jane Steane lived here with her son James (22), daughter Sarah (17), and one female servant.
1861
No. 33: Martin Coles (27), a hairdresser and dealer in fancy goods, lived here with his wife Caroline (29) and daughter Emily (1).
No. 34: Thomas Randle Grubb (24), a baker and corn dealer, lived here with his wife Sarah (30) and his children Thomas (5) and Elizabeth (6 months). They had one female servant.
1871
No. 33: No listing.
No. 34: Thomas Grubb (44), a mealman, lived here with his wife Sarah (42) and his children Thomas (15) and Sarah (7). They had one servant.
1881
No. 33: Described as “uninhabited”.
No. 34: Sarah Grubb (51) is now a widow, and lived here with her son Thomas (25), described as a corn dealer, her daughter Sarah (17) and one female servant.
1891
Nos. 33 & 34 both listed as uninhabited: they may have been rebuilt around this time. .
1901
No. 33: Walter Blackall (56), a photographer, lived here with his wife Sarah (53) and his children Walter (23), who was a photographer, and Bertha (16), who was a photographer's assistant.
1911
No listing for either shop.