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Cowley Road is an arterial road in the city of

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, running southeast from near the city centre at

The Plain The Plain (), also known as the Marsh (), was the majority of independent deputies in the National Convention during the French Revolution. They were the most moderate and the most numerous group (around 400 deputies) of the National Conventio ...

near Magdalen Bridge, through the inner city area of East Oxford, and towards 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 ...

of Cowley. It is a section of the B480 road, which runs between Oxford and

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, west of M ...

. Cowley Road forms a terminal section of the B480 where it ends at

, and becomes Oxford Road where it crosses the Boundary Brook and Marsh Road, before Temple Cowley (also known as Cowley). As such, Cowley is an area of Oxford distinct to Cowley Road, which is so named because it approaches Cowley. They are, however, often mistakenly conflated. Oxford also has another distinct Cowley Road, in

Littlemore Littlemore is a district and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxford, England. The civil parish includes part of Rose Hill, Oxfordshire, Rose Hill. It is about southeast of the city centre of Oxford, between Rose Hill, Blackbird Ley ...

. Cowley Road in Littlemore approaches Cowley from the South, while the B480 Cowley Road approaches it from the North East. Cowley Road is also the main shopping street of East Oxford, and in the evenings it is the area's main leisure district. The central shopping is at . 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 that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

and

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Indigenous peoples of Africa, Africans (primarily fr ...

communities, who have been joined more recently by East European, Chinese and African 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. Established in 1889, it is an elected body responsible for most strategic local government ...

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 ...

(formerly known as The Zodiac), and The Bullingdon (formerly The Art Bar). A house party on the Cowley Road was the site to the UK band Foals' first ever gig. Famous Oxford bands have included

Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993. 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 (drums, ...

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

and Ride. Cowley Road is also home to the Cowley Road Carnival, an annual event when the road is pedestrianised, and which features 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

caused cancellation of the street carnival and in 2022 the organisers announced closure of the Carnival. After a 5 year break, the carnival returned in 2024, taking place on the 1st of September.https://www.oxford.gov.uk/news/article/1532/cowley-road-carnival-2024-returns-in-full-colour-with-support-from-oxford-city-council-and-partners

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