George Street

George Street runs east–west across the northern edge of central Oxford. At its eastern end it lands at the four-way crossroads where Broad Street, Cornmarket Street and Magdalen Street all meet; at its western end it joins Hythe Bridge Street at the junction with Worcester Street, just before the road drops down towards the canal. The street is the city centre's main concentration of restaurants, late-opening bars and commercial entertainment — and, because it lies directly outside the line of the medieval city wall, it carries a noticeably different street character from the academic quarter to the south.

Outside the wall

George Street sits just beyond the line of Oxford's medieval defences, running parallel with the old north wall. The plots along its south side were once part of the defensive ditch outside that wall, which is why the modern frontages there sit slightly higher than the carriageway and why the south-side buildings tend to be later, deeper-plan structures than the medieval pattern to the south. The southern terrace is, in effect, infill across a former military feature.

Theatre and the arts

The dominant building on the north side is the New Theatre Oxford, which is in effect the city's biggest touring stage for commercial drama and large-scale music. Its present 1933 fabric is the third theatre on the same plot: a first New Theatre opened in 1836 and was replaced in 1886, then rebuilt again on the eve of the Second World War. The venue traded for some years under the Apollo Theatre badge before the older name was restored.

The arts cluster extends both sides of the street:

• Arts at the Old Fire Station occupies No. 40, in the brick fire-station and Corn Exchange complex put up to H. W. Moore's designs in 1894. The fire station itself left for Rewley Road in 1974 and the building was reopened as a community arts centre, run by the Oxford Area Arts Council; Anvil Productions, the Oxford Playhouse company, also used it for rehearsals in the early years.
• The Burton Taylor Studio, the university's small experimental theatre, is just off the street in Gloucester Street, which runs north towards Gloucester Green.
• The Ritz Cinema opened on the north side in 1936; an Odeon ran the building from 2000 until 2025, when the chain pulled out.

From shopping centre to Faculty of History

Two of the more substantial Victorian buildings here started life in entirely non-academic uses and ended up absorbed by the University:

• The old City of Oxford High School for Boys on the south side, by T. G. Jackson in 1880–81, served as the city's grammar school for boys until 1966, when the school moved out to the Southfields Grammar site. The building then became the Oxford Classics Department, and from 2007 has been the home of the Faculty of History.
• W. F. Lucas' clothing factory on the south side — built in 1892 to a Harry Drinkwater design for the local contractor T. H. Kingerlee — once employed around 300 staff making ready-to-wear garments on site. The factory was later subdivided and now contains a mix of retail and office units.

Gloucester Green and the western end

Just north of the street's western end lies Gloucester Green — a paved square hosting the Wednesday and weekend markets, and home to the bus station that handles most of Oxford's coach traffic. National Express, the Oxford Tube and other long-distance services depart from here, as do routes run by Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach. The western end of George Street is therefore a working interchange between buses, restaurants and Gloucester Green pickups, particularly busy on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the New Theatre Oxford?

The New Theatre Oxford is on the north side of George Street in central Oxford — the city's principal commercial touring theatre. It is reached on foot from Cornmarket Street in about two minutes, and Gloucester Green bus station is right behind it.

What is George Street known for?

George Street is the centre's main concentration of restaurants, bars and commercial entertainment. The New Theatre Oxford sits on the north side; Arts at the Old Fire Station is at No. 40, in the brick 1894 fire-station building. The street also fronts onto the Gloucester Green bus station to the north and was historically the line outside the medieval city wall.

What was on George Street before it was a shopping street?

George Street lies outside the line of the medieval city wall and ran along the defensive ditch outside that wall. Substantial Victorian buildings followed in the late nineteenth century: the City of Oxford High School for Boys (T. G. Jackson, 1880–81), the Lucas clothing factory (1892), and the fire station and Corn Exchange (H. W. Moore, 1894). The present New Theatre dates to 1933, replacing earlier theatres of 1836 and 1886.

Sources: Wikipedia: George Street, Oxford · Wikidata: George Street (Q5544896) · OpenStreetMap: George Street, Oxford