73: Eastgate Hotel
There has been an inn on this site on this site, near the medieval East Gate in the city wall, since at least 1605. It was in St Peter-in-the East parish until that parish was united with St Cross parish in 1957. It is at the junction of the High Street with Merton Street (which was formerly known as King Street until it turned west). It has been owned by Magdalen College since 1891.
The current building, however, is relatively new, only dating from the end of 1899. It was designed by E. P. Warren in a seventeenth-century style, and built by Benfield & Loxley. There is a cartouche between the upper-floor windows showing what the city wall at this point, demolished in 1772, looked like: this Historic England image (CC73/00075) shows it clearly:
The former inn on this site
For most of the nineteenth century, the inn on this site was known as the Flying Horse. The Historic England photograph below (CC72/01906) shows the old building in 1890, when the H & G Simonds Brewery held it:
Innkeepers of the former Flying Horse in the censuses:
- 1841: Mrs Mary Smith (née Bunce), who was aged about 60, was the publican at the Flying Horse, and had 23 boarders.
- 1851: Matthias Popple (30), described as the victualler, lived here with his wife Leonora and their three children, plus a servant. The people lodging here on the night of the census were a tailor, a mason’s labourer, a trunk maker, a miller and his wife, two charwomen (one with her two sons) and two servants (one with her daughter).
- 1861: Job Durran (39), described as a publican and cab proprietor, lived here with his wife Maria and their son William, who was only 14 but was described as a coachman & driver. There were five people lodging here on census night: a clothes cleaner, a porter at University College, an agricultural labourer, a groom & fly driver, and a housemaid (the last two presumably working at the Flying Horse). He was still here in 1871.
- 1881: Fred Birmingham (38), licensed victualler, was living here with his wife Augusta and their two daughters (the elder a barmaid) and two sons, and their boarder. Two families were staying here on census night: the journalist Charles Edward Green (36) and the jeweller Robert Adams, a jeweller (51), each accompanied by his wife and children.
- 1891 & 1901: Henry Beechey (34), licensed victualler, lived here in 1891 with his wife Maria and four children and a general servant. A barmaid and a waiter boarded with them. He still lived here with his family in 1901, and their daughter Minnie (18) was not a barmaid. Four servants lodged with them: a waiter, barmaid, housemaid, and houseboy.
- 1921: Stanley George Coombes (38), described as a hotel proprietor, lived here with his wife Eveline and their two daughters, plus the hotel housekeeper and two chambermaids, plus 24 visitors.
By the 1890s the Flying Horse was known as the Eastgate Hotel. On 6 June 1891 a notification of a forthcoming auction to be held in London appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal:
CITY OF OXFORD
HIGHLY-IMPORTANT FREEHOLD HOTEL AND RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY,
Occupying an unrivalled position the corner of KING STREET & HIGH STREET,
The whole forming a grand site for a speculative Rebuilding.It comprises the Old-established Fully-licensed EASTGATE HOTEL, together with the adjoining SHOPS, PRIVATE HOUSES, AND STABLING, being Nos. 71, 72, and 73, HIGH STREET, and Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, KING STREET [now part of Merton Street], having a frontage of 105ft. 4in. to the latter, and embracing an entire superficial area of about 7810ft. The property now produces from old rentals an income of £370 per annum, but the eligible position which it occupies in one of the best business positions of the City, renders it peculiarly adapted as a site for a superior Hotel, with Shops on the ground floor, and is thus rendered capable of producing a largely-increased income, and affords an opportunity to capitalists seldom to be met with for the purchase of a Freehold either for investment or speculation.
The Eastgate Hotel and the adjoining houses were bought by Magdalen College.
The present Eastgate Hotel
The present Eastgate Hotel was designed by E. P. Warren and built by Messrs Benfield & Loxley. This drawing of the new Eastgate Hotel was published in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 9 December 1899:
The Historic England photograph below (CC69/00809) shows the same view of the present Eastgate Hotel in 1901, shortly after it opened:
The 1911 census shows the hotel proprietor Henry John Beechey (54) living here with his wife Mary and their three grown-up children (two of whom assisted in the business), plus their barmaid and three chambermaids. The number of rooms in the establishment is recorded as 36.
The postcard below shows the hotel in the 1920s:
In 1964 the Eastgate Hotel was granted planning permission to incorporate 23 & 25 Merton Street into the hotel (64/13952/A_H).
In 2017 planning permission (17/00188/FUL) was granted for the erection of another detached building to provide seventeen additional bedrooms at the Eastgate Hotel.
Occupants of 73 High
Street | |
By 1839–1876 |
Flying Horse |
1880–present |
Eastgate
Hotel including Keeper's Kitchen & Bar |
