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Shop changes:
1973 and 2008

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This is the surviving part of a larger eighteenth-century stone house that originally included Nos. 33 & 34 to the north. It is Grade II listed (list entry 1299550) and has always been in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church.

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.

This may be the house described as being next door to the Marquis of Granby pub (at No. 36 to the south) in this advertisement in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 4 January 1777:

TO be LETT, and entered on immediately,—A new-built HOUSE, next to the Marquis of Granby's Head, in the Corn-Market; containing eight good convenient Rooms, besides a Kitchen, Out-house, and Yard; fit either for a Shop-Keeper or a private Family.—For farther Particulars enquire of Mr. Townesend, Builder, in the High-Street.

At the time of the 1841 census the mercer William Last lived here with Mary Anne Last, Hannah Adams, and Emma Walker, who were all milliners, plus two servants, and on 8 May 1841 Miss Last announced that she had moved her millinery & dressmaking rooms here from 131 High Street.

The bootmaker Edwin Litchfield Elliott was here at No. 35 in 1851, but moved to 30 Cornmarket later in the 1850s.

Henry Alden, originally a bookseller in St Aldate's and then in Queen Street, moved into the shop on this site in 1859. He died in this building at the age of 63 on 25 October 1872.

The auction of the shop was advertised as follows in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 7 December 1872:

No. 35, CORN MARKET STREET.
Lot 5.—All the above valuable BUSINESS PREMISES, possessing a commanding Front Shop, back sitting room, yard, store room, warehouse, and w.c. on the ground floor; two large sitting rooms on the first floor; two bed rooms on the second floor, and two attics over the same; back kitchen and cellar in the basement; the whole occupying a frontage to the street of about 19ft., and extending a depth of upwards of 60ft., possessing space sufficient for nearly doubling the size of the present shop, which is situate in the very best business part of Oxford. The cellar in the basement under the front shop is not included in the sale. This Lot is held by Lease under the Corporation of Oxford for a term of 1000 years from the 19th of October, 1771, subject to an apportioned Quit Rent of 21s. and 1s. capon money, 8d. acquittance, and therefore quite equal in value to Freehold.

Another auction of No. 35 was advertised on 28 February 1880:

All those valuable BUSINESS PREMISES, situate and being No. 35, Corn Market-Street, now in the occupation of Mr. Alden ...
This House is situate in one of the most business thoroughfares of the City, and contains commanding shop, private entrance, sitting room, kitchen, w.c., and small yard on the ground floor; two sitting rooms, lavatory, and w.c. on the first floor; and 4 bed rooms on the two upper floors, with 2 cellars in the basement. It is held under a Grant from the City of Oxford for 1000 years from Oct. 19th, 1771, subject to an Annual Rent of £1 1s., and 1s. Capon money, the whole being let at a rental of £110 per annum.

In the 188s the Co-operative Dental Supply Association occupied the first floor of this building.

The Alden Press remained at this shop until the end of the 1920s.

• For a photograph of Alden & Co’s shop at 35 Cornmarket, see Michael L. Turner and David Vaisey, Oxford Shops and Shopping, p. 60, illustration 140. This shows that the upstairs part of the shop was a show room.

The photograph below (Historic England BUN01/01/076) shows the upper part of this shop at No. 35 in 1928, when it was occupied by Nurse the Furrier (with its demolished partner at No. 34 on the right):

The premises became a restaurant when the Wimpy Bar opened here in 1970. Kentucky Fried Chicken was here by the late 1980s (photograph), and they installed the present shop front in 2003.