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Cowley Road is an arterial road in the city of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, running southeast from near the city centre at

The Plain The Plain (french: La Plaine), better known as The Marsh (french: Le Marais), was the majority of independent deputies in the French National Convention during the French Revolution. They sat between the Girondists on their right and Montagnards ...

near

Magdalen Bridge Magdalen Bridge spans the divided stream of the River Cherwell just to the east of the City of Oxford, England, and next to Magdalen College, whence it gets its name and pronunciation. It connects the High Street to the west with The Plain, no ...

, through the inner city area of

East Oxford Oxford East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Anneliese Dodds of the Labour Party, who also serves as party chair. Created in 1983, the constituency covers the eastern and southern parts of Oxford ...

, and to the

industrial suburb An industrial suburb is a community, near a large city, with an industrial economy. These communities may be established as tax havens or as places where zoning promotes industry, or they may be industrial towns that become suburbs by urban spra ...

of Cowley. The central shopping is at Cowley Road is also the main

shopping street A shopping street or shopping district is a designated road or quarter of a city/town that is composed of individual retail establishments (such as stores, boutiques, restaurants, and shopping complexes). Such areas will typically be pedest ...

of East Oxford, and in the evenings it is the area's main leisure district. Cowley Road, like most of Oxford, has an ethnically and economically diverse population. This includes significant, long-standing

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...

and

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the ...

communities, who have been joined more recently by

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Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

and

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arrivals. Alongside these ethnic groups, East Oxford plays host to many members of the city's academic population, both undergraduate and academic staff, and is home to many politically active groups. Cowley Road has high levels of both road traffic and pedestrian traffic, and space for both is limited. In 2005,

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. It is an elected body responsible for some local government services in the county, includ ...

invested about £1,000,000 from central government to re-model the busiest part of Cowley Road. The carriageway has been realigned and colourfully resurfaced, the pavements have been repaved, cycle lanes have been enhanced in some places and removed from others and in one section the speed limit has been reduced to .

Music and culture

The Cowley Road area has played a prominent part in the Oxford music scene. A number of successful bands made their formative performances in local venues such as the

O2 Academy Oxford The O2 Academy Oxford is a night club and live music venue in Oxford, England, operated by Academy Music Group. Its previous names include the Coop Hall, the Oxford Venue, the Zodiac and the Carling Academy Oxford. History Oxford Co-operative S ...

(formerly known as The Zodiac), and The Bullingdon (formerly The Art Bar). Famous Oxford bands have included

Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey ( ...

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

and

Ride Ride may refer to: People * MC Ride, a member of Death Grips * Sally Ride (1951–2012), American astronaut * William Ride (19262011), Australian zoologist Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Ride'' (1998 film), a 1998 comedy by Millicent ...

. Cowley Road was also home to the Cowley Road Carnival, an annual event when the road was pedestrianised, and which featured live music, static sound systems, a parade, and food from around the world. Cowley Road Carnival became an integral part of contemporary Oxford. Held on the first Sunday in July it celebrated the multicultural diversity of the city and regularly attracted around 50,000 visitors. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

caused cancellation of the street carnival and in 2022 the organisers announced closure of the Carnival. A house party on the Cowley Road was the site to the UK band Foals' first ever gig.

References

Sources and further reading

* * * Roads in Oxfordshire Shopping streets in Oxford {{Oxfordshire-geo-stub

Music and culture

See also

References

Sources and further reading