Cornmarket Street

Cornmarket Street
Cornmarket
Cornmarket Street in 2007
Cornmarket Street is located in Oxford
Cornmarket Street
Location in Oxford
Cornmarket Street is located in Oxfordshire
Cornmarket Street
Location in Oxfordshire
Former name(s)The Corn
LocationOxford, England
Coordinates51°45′11″N 1°15′30″W / 51.7530°N 1.2584°W / 51.7530; -1.2584
North endGeorge Street
Major
junctions
Golden Cross, Clarendon Shopping Centre
South endCarfax Tower
Other
Known forShopping
StatusPedestrian precinct

Cornmarket Street (colloquially referred to as Cornmarket or historically The Corn) is a major shopping street and pedestrian precinct in Oxford, England that runs north to south between Magdalen Street and Carfax Tower.[1][2]

To the east is the Golden Cross arcade of small jewellery and craft shops in a courtyard, leading to the Covered Market. To the west is the indoor Clarendon Shopping Centre that connects in an L-shape to Queen Street.

Cornmarket was semi-pedestrianised and made a limited-access street in 1999. Cycling is allowed 6pm to 10am. In 2002, it was voted Britain's second worst street in a poll of listeners to the Today programme.[3] The rating was largely due to a failed attempt to repave the street in 2001. The granite setts, which had been laid extensively, cracked and the contractor went into liquidation. In 2003, it was repaved again and new benches installed, amidst reports of budgetary problems.

  1. ^ Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "Cornmarket". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. Macmillan. pp. 102–104. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.
  2. ^ "Zacharias and Co. of Oxford". Archives Hub. UK: Jisc. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Britons name 'best and worst streets'". BBC. 20 September 2002. Retrieved 10 January 2008.