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Shop changes:
1973 and 2008

 

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The three shops (now one) at 44, 45, & 46 Cornmarket Street have always been in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church. From 1899 the former shops at 45 & 46 together formed a Cadena Café (originally known as Lloyds Oriental Cafés, which served a coffee blend they called Cadena), and then from 1930 it expanded to include No. 44 on the right.

The Cadena Café closed in 1970 and in that year planning permission (70/22385/AB_H) was granted to Gordon Thoday to demolish Nos. 44, 45, and 46 Cornmarket Street and erect this new building.

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Former shop at 44 Cornmarket (first shop to 1899, second shop to 1970)

At the time of the 1772 Survey of Oxford No. 44 was occupied by Mr Fell and had a frontage of 5 yds 2 ft 6 in.

James Castle had a tobacconist's shop here from c.1827 to his death at the age of 65 on 2 December 1867. It was described as follows when it was advertised to let in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 14 December 1867:

TO LET,—A well-arranged Eleven-roomed HOUSE, with private entrance and double-fronted Shop; also a Warehouse, and all suitable domestic offices, where the business of a tobacconist has been successfully carried on for the last 40 years by the late Mr. James Castle, and to which there is an extensive and very valuable connexion attached.

On 15 February 1868 James Castle's widow announced that she had disposed of the business to the tobacconist Joseph Carter.

In 1899 this shop was united to No. 43 to the north. Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 15 July 1899 reported:

“The premises formerly occupied by Mrs. Carter [44 Cornmarket Street] are now in course of removal to enable an addition to Messrs. Bull’s premises [43 Cornmarket Street] to be erected, which will doubtless correspond in style to the Reading firm’s red brick and terra-cottaed edifice next door.”

The photograph below dating from 1911 (Historic England CC72/00983) shows that in the event the new building at 44 Cornmarket Street was very different (except for the new front on the ground floor) from the ornate brick and terracotta building next door:

Nos. 43 & 44 were occupied by the drapers H. & E. Morton from 1907 to 1925. The above photograph shows that the Cadena Café had then already expanded into the upstairs of No. 44.

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Former shop at 45 Cornmarket to 1853

At the time of the 1772 Survey of Oxford No. 45 was occupied by Mr L. Thompson and had a frontage of 2 yards 2 feet 9 inches

This was Sutton's china shop from at least 1839. At the time of the 1841 census Edward Sutton, described as a chinaman, was living here with his shopman Edward Barnshaw: both were in their mid-30s.

On 29 June 1850 Richard Spiers, who also had a shop in the High Street, bought Sutton's business and stock, and took possession on 13 July. On 30 April 1853 he announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal that in order to carry on more conveniently their wholesale as well as their retail trade, they were expanding to include No. 46 next door. Work started on the shop on 29 June 1853, and Spiers opened here on 15 October 1853.

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Former shop at 46 Cornmarket to 1853

At the time of the 1772 Survey of Oxford No. 46 was occupied by Mr Smewing and had a frontage of 3 yards 1 foot 0 inches.

The cutler John Robinson of Cornmarket died after a lingering illness on 24 January 1828, and presumably the Sarah Robinson who had this shop in 1839 was his widow. At the time of the 1841 census she was living her with her son John Robinson junior (aged about 25) who was also a cutler, and her three daughters. By 1846 the shop was in her son's name.

By the time of the 1851 census the saddler Henry Adams had taken over this shop.

From 1853 to 1865 it was part of the Spiers shop at No. 45 above.

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Former combined shop at 45 & 46 Cornmarket from 1853 to 1970

Richard Spiers combined these two shops in 1853, and in 1857 he also purchased the shop behind in St Michael Street (then part of New Inn Hall Street), which provided a separate wholesale entrance. His servant Thomas Seaman managed the shop and lived upstairs in the 1850s and early 1860s. On 12  August 1865 Spiers announced that he was giving up his business here at 45 & 46 Cornmarket as soon as the alterations he was making to his shop at 102 & 103 High Street were complete. On 21 October 1865 Jackson's Oxford Journal announced the forthcoming auction in London of these premises:

The extensive FREEHOLD PREMISES, Nos. 45 and 46, CORN MARKET STREET, extending at a right angle into New Inn Hall-street [now St Michael Street], forming the celebrated China and Glass Warehouse of Messrs. SPIERS and SON, who are consolidating their business in their establishment in High-street, the whole, including 432 feet Leasehold, covering an area of upwards of 5000 feet, situate in the centre and in one of the fines positions for business in the City of Oxford, nearly opposite Market-street, and within a few doors of the Clarendon Hotel, offering such an opportunity as seldom occurs for an upholstery or furniture warehouse, banking-house, grocer, mercer, clothier, bookseller, coach-builder, ironmonger, or other establishment on an extensive scale, or for a limited liability company, or a London house desiring to open a branch establishment.

The above-mentioned extensive Freehold Premises are well known as one of the largest and handsomest places of business in Oxford, being 127 feet in depth with a return of 118 feet, having been almost entirely rebuilt within the last few yeas, and comprising a spacious ground floor with gallery above, supported on iron columns, the whole lighted by a glass roof, several show and ware rooms, a dry asphalted basement, a convenient dwelling house attached, and a large building of two stories in the rear, with entrance in New Inn Hall-street [now St Michael Street], forming a valuable addition to the shop, or suitable for warehouses or workshops, with the convenience of a separate entrance. The building throughout is of the most substantial character and in a complete state of repair, the fronts are in stone and plate glass, and the arrangements for heating, lighting, and ventilation are on the most approved principles.

On 8 December 1866 the Oxford Cabinet & Upholstery Company Ltd (late Tomkins) took over this pair of combined shops, and also the premises in St Michael's Street at the back.

On 16 May 1874 W. Roddis announced that he was moving his furnishing warehouses here from Magdalen Street.

Lloyd's Oriental Café opened here at Nos. 45 & 46 in 1899, and this became Cadena Café in 1907. This expanded into the shops to the north and south and survived until 1970.

Occupants of 44, 45, and 46 Cornmarket Street listed in directories etc.
Date	No. 46 (left)	No. 45 (middle)	No. 44 (right)
1839–1846	Sarah Robinson Cutler (1839) John Robinson Cutler (1846)	Sutton & Son China & Glass Warehouse (1839) Samuel Sutton China dealer	James Castle Tobacconist (from c.1827)
1851	Henry Adams Saddler
1852		Spiers and Son China & glass dealers
1853–1865	Spiers and Son Glass, china, and earthenware warehouses
1866–1867	Oxford Furnishing Co Ltd Manager: Henry Eyles
1868–1871			Joseph Carter Tobacconist
1872	Wiseman & Blake, Linen drapers
1874–1875	William Roddis, Furnishing Warehouse
1880	L. Lambert, Millinery & baby linen establishment (Nos. 45 & 46 numbered simply as 45 henceforth)
1882–1891	Hatch & Co., Japanese Art Depôt
1899	Lloyd’s Oriental Café Ltd (1899–1905) Lloyd's Cadena Café Ltd (1907) Cadena Café Ltd (1907–1925) Also Tea merchants 1911–1921
1902–1905			Part of Bull's shop at No. 43
1907–1925			Part of Morton's Drapers at No. 43
1930–1970	Cadena Café Ltd Restaurant & Coffee Specialists (included No. 47 to the south from 1935 to the late 1960s)
Early 1970s	New building erected (see photograph of demolition here)
1973–1976	Gordon Thoday Fabrics
1986–2015	HMV (incorporating No. 43 next door from 1994)
2016–2024	Leon
2025–	McDonald’s