Queen Street

Queen Street is the pedestrianised retail spine running west from Carfax to Bonn Square and Westgate. It is one of the four streets that meet at Carfax — Cornmarket to the north, the High Street continuing east, St Aldate's south, and Queen Street west. Cars are forbidden; buses and taxis run one-way west to east; cyclists may use it both ways outside main shopping hours. The street has been pedestrianised since 1970.

The name has shifted with the trade. In the 13th century it was simply "the Bailey", from its position next to Oxford Castle, and later "Butcher Row" because cattle were slaughtered and meat sold along it. The Oxford Mileways Act of 1771 outlawed slaughtering in the street and pushed the butchers into the Covered Market, where their successors still trade. The street was given its current name after Queen Charlotte, who visited Oxford with George III in 1785. Most of the gabled and timber-framed buildings that lined it survived into the late 19th century but have since been replaced — the Marks & Spencer on the south side, for instance, was built in 1975-78.

Halfway along, an entrance on the north side leads into the Clarendon Centre. At the western end, Bonn Square commemorates Oxford's twinning with Bonn, and Westgate Oxford stands on the site of the medieval west gate. A short walk past Bonn Square, the mound of Oxford Castle and the former Oxford Prison lie just off New Road, on the line out to the railway station.

Historical names: the Bailey, Butcher Row

Sources: Wikipedia: Queen Street, Oxford · Wikidata: Queen Street (Q7270514) · OpenStreetMap: Queen Street