The Design Room, previously known as Fantasia, and before that as a butcher, is being converted into two flats. The large shop window, on Ock Street, has displayed wedding dresses for over a decade, and before that trays of meat
In this picture from the Radley Village website, showing flooding in Abingdon, the shop can be seen near that unlikely flooding event.
I can rememb er the flooding in Abingdon. Recently my friend and I visited the new Westgate Centre in Oxford and were not impressed. The new centre is open as opposed to the old one which was closed off to the elements. We were frozen as blasts of icy artic winds buffetted us which made for an uncomfortable shopping experience. Where did the architects come from, Florida? The closed off Mall in Milton Keynes is far superior. We were early so went to look for a cafe that sold hot bacon rolls. Well forget the English breakfast. We could have had organic porridge in the health cafe, Lebonese, mexican or burgers. The John Lewis cafe was too upmarket to sell bacon rolls. This is my challenge should anyone wish to accept it. Find a cafe in the Westgate Centre that does an English breakfast or bacon roll.
I was there Monday and saw a bacon butty on the John Lewis menu upstairs.
..but back to Abingdon – anyone remember the amazing bacon sandwiches they used to serve at the Black Swan? French bread…wonderful!
You can get an English breakfast or bacon butty at “Annie’s at the Boathouse” so maybe poor old Abingdon has some good points after all!
Janet, there is only a very small area round the John Lewis entrance that is open to the sky and designed to give light and a welcome breath of fresh air for a few moments. Unless you were referring to the roof terrace it is hard to see how you could have been buffetted by icy arctic winds and howling gales as the rest of the new Westgate is covered.
I’m sure you know the Covered Market in Oxford (the clue is in the name). It has a lot of lovely shops…and even better it has delicious bacon butties.
Janet – I concur with all you say about the new Westgate Shopping Centre. I was extremely disappointed with the range of shops, i.e. mainly clothes (upmarket) & pretentious eateries. John Lewis, my favourite store was a right let-down, with limited items in the Home/KitchenElectrical/Cookware departments. It looks like that I will still be visiting Reading (the old Heelas), High Wycombe or Milton Keynes if I want a satisfactory “J. L ” experience.
It would seem that ordering online and collecting at Waitrose will be the way it will continue for me.
Further concerns were lack of seating, toilets, and practical shops in the centre. I would liked to have seen the likes of Lakeland (Witney), The Steamer Cookshop (Witney or Thame) or Wilco (Didcot) etc. which would have been of more use to me.
I have visited the centre now on 3 occasions and it seems on the days tourists are in abundance the centre is crowed, but when tourists en masse are absent the centre is much quieter.
I don’t think that shops such as Boswells, Debenhams and the other town shops will have much to worry about as regards their trade.
The challenge for Oxford will be to fill the vacated shops in Cornmarket etc with deccent replacements… I didn’t mind the Westgate. I wish I’d known the Park & Ride wouldn’t go via St Aldates though – had to walk down to the policestation.
But what about Abingdon?
Not sure about the shops, because we visited in the evening, but the Westgate car park is a big improvement over the old multi-storey.
R – Janet is right! You may say that the new Wesrgate is covered but there are huge gaps at the sides, at the opposite end to JohnLewis.
Well I loved the Westgate, and so did my kids, who it is possibly aimed for as this is the demographic that likes to shop and spend regularly, and possibly more open to the idea of a latte and croissant rather than a full English. I think Oxford now give everyone something. Cornmarket however is looking like the end of Oxford St nr Tottenham court rd full of tacking shops and souvenir stalls. Back to Abingdon though, what’s happening with the Stan James and Outdoor Traders shops, and the pop up shop is a great idea too.
Stan James is to be a restaurant isn’t it? I don’t know about Outdoor Traders, but I was thinking a prime location like that, in the shadow of the glorious County Hall, overlooking our pretty marketplace; it would make a good Turkish barbers?
Convert it to flats.. best move possible in my eyes 🙂
Air Ambulance charity shop going into the old Outdoor Traders shop – just what Abingdon needs!
Just in case anyone is still reading this thread, can I report that I went to Westgate this morning and found just about every eatery you could imagine – including one called “The Breakfast Place” or something similar. Sadly it was packed out so I can’t report whether they sell bacon butties or not but they certainly do a “Full English”. Otherwise, as others have said, try the Covered market – they need our support.