2 Cornmarket Street: Pret à Manger
This building was in the parish of St Martin's (Carfax) until that church was demolished in 1896, whereafter it was in the parish of St Martin's & All Saints until All Saints Church closed in 1971. It is now in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate.
There appear to have been two shops on this site until the 1850s, when the publisher Alfred Richard Mowbray had his shop here. On 27 April 1867 a forthcoming auction of this shop by direction of the executors of the late Richard Young was advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal, and it was described thus:
All those commanding FREEHOLD BUSINESS PREMISES, known as No. 2, Corn Market-street (opposite the Oxford Journal Office), in the very centre of Oxford, and comprising a capital Double-fronted SHOP, six rooms on the fist, second, and third floors, kitchen and cellar in the basement, let on a repairing lease to Mr. Mowbray, photographer, for a term of 14 years, from 21st December 1866, at a rental of £100 per annum.—This Property is subject to a Land Tax of £2 2s. 2d. per annum.
By the time of the 1871 census the brush & comb maker Richard E. Farrant occupied this shop.
George Davis
From 1890 this was the fancy goods shop of George Davis.
The 1891 census shows Davis living here with his wife Matilda and their son George, plus a hospital nurse and a servant. He died here shortly after the census at the age of 52 on 4 May 1891, but his wife Matilda continued to run the business until her own death at the age of 71 in 1904. The business survived until 1911, and produced many postcards of the City of Oxford, including the “Americans in Oxford” cartoon series.
The postcard detail on the right shows this shop in c.1905 with the name DAVIS'S over the front. It then had four floors rather than the present three. Another view of Davis's shop in c.1900 can be seen here.
In 1911 the shop underwent a total renovation by the builder G. J. Ashley, and Davis's published a postcard showing the scaffolding decorated with flags for the coronation of George V on 22 June.
By January 1912 the hatter Frederick Margetts had moved from No. 12 Cornmarket into this renovated shop, and his business was still here in 1958: photograph from the 1940s
Occupants of 2 Cornmarket Street listed in directories etc. |
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1839–1841 |
Henry Reynolds |
George Thompson |
1843 |
James Gillham & Co. |
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1844, 1845 |
Noah Pattenden, Draper |
William Denyer |
1846 |
William & Charles Wells, Jewellers |
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1850–1852 |
Abraham Zacharias |
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1858–1867 |
A. R. Mowbray, Photographer, bookseller etc |
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1871–1882 |
Richard E. Farrant, Brush & comb maker, fancy repository, and sponge importer |
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1890–1911 |
George Davis, Fancy repository/Fancy Stores |
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Underwent a major renovation in 1911 reducing the number of storeys from four to three |
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1912–1958 |
Frederick A. Margetts, Hatter |
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1960–1988+ |
Watches of Switzerland Ltd (photograph) |
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1995–present |
Pret à Manger (with abandoned Veggie Pret à Manger trial for seven months in 2023) |
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2 Cornmarket Street in the censuses
1841
(probably) Henry Reynolds (35), described as a hair cutter, lived here with Emma (25), Henry (7), and Emma (3).
1851
Described as “uninhabited”. (The jeweller Abraham Zacharias who then had this shop was living in Paradise Square.)
1861
Alfred R. Mowbray (36), photographer, bookseller, and stationer, lived here over his shop with his wife Susan (31) and their children Alfred (11), Samuel (10), Florence (4), and Gertrude (2): only the youngest daughter was born in Oxford, suggesting that they moved here in about 1859. They had no servants
1871
Richard Farrant (65), carpenter & cabinet maker, lived here with his wife Hannah (65) and their unmarried daughters Harriet (30) and Eliza (28), who looked after the brush and fancy repository downstairs.
1881
Richard Farrant (75), a retired cabinet maker, was still living here with his unmarried daughter Harriett (39) who was now the shop manager and the employer of one assistant and one boy. They had one female servant.
1891
George Davis (52), a fancy warehouseman, lived here over his shop with his wife Matilda (58) and their son George (21), who was an assistant in the shop. They had a sick nurse in residence for George Davis senior, who would be dead within a month, and a domestic servant.
1901
Matilda Davis (68), a widowed fancy goods shopkeeper, lived here with one servant.
1911
No listing: undergoing renovation.