Northway Estate, Headington
The building of 570 council houses in Northway started in 1951/2, and included Plowman Tower, Oxford’s first multi-storey block. Northway is in the parish of St Andrew’s Church.
Shops are first listed in Westlands Drive in Kelly’s Directory for 1958, with a C.R.T.S. television shop at 43, Berry’s the baker at 45, and Cooke’s greengrocer at 71. The current parade of shops in Westlands Drive was fully occupied as follows by 1960:
43: C.R.T.S. of Oxford, television
45: W. J. Berry & Sons, bakers & confectioners
47: Balls Bros, wine & spirit merchants
49: D. & J. Cocks, grocers
51: Cooke’s, greengrocers
53: J. Dean, drug stores
55: Oxford & District Co-operative Society Ltd, butchers
57: Gay’s, drapers
59: L. C. Boiteux, hardware dealer
61: R. A. Harmsworth, newsagent.
Almost all the roads on the Northway estate were named after local fields, e.g. Alesworth Grove, Borrowmead Road, Broadmead Place, Gorse Leas, Gouldland Gardens, Grunsell Close, Halliday Hill, Milne Place, Stainfield Road, Stockleys Road, Sutton Road, Upway Road, and Westlands Drive.
Location
Headington’s Northway estate, which was built by Oxford City Council from 1951, lies between the John Radcliffe Hospital site and the northern bypass, to the north-west of Old Headington.
Map of the Northway area in 1900, side-by-side with a recent aerial view |
The shops of Northway
The row of shops at 43–61 Westlands Drive is owned by Oxford City Council and was occupied as follows in 2014:
- Fishing Tackle Direct (43 Westlands Drive)
- Thames Valley Police Office for Northway Neighbourhood (45 Westlands Drive)
- Wine Palace off-licence (47 Westlands Drive)
- Rosie’s Iranian Food Shop (49 & 51 Westlands Drive)
- Oxford Doors and Security (53 Westlands Drive)
- Fat Boyz Pizza, only open evenings; with pizza delivery service (55 Westlands Drive)
- Bal's Hairdressing (57 Westlands Drive)
- Wingloon House Takeaway, only open evenings, closed Mondays (59 Westlands Drive)
- Martin’s Newsagent/Westlands Drive Post Office (61 Westlands Drive)
Plowman Tower
Plowman Tower has flats on 15 levels and was built in 1965. It was the first of Oxford’s tower blocks, and is named after Harry Plowman, CBE, MA, Town Clerk of Oxford 1940–1965.
Oxford Boxing Academy, Saxon Way
Oxford City Council sold the former Saxon Youth Centre to the club, which moved here early in 2012
- Oxford Mail, 22 December 2011: “Grant is knockout news for Oxford boxing academy”
- Oxford Mail, 18 August 2012: “Boxing club move packing extra punch”
Loss of Northway’s pub
The Cavalier at 148 Copse Lane was built in 1957 to serve the Northway estate and demolished in April 2012. A planning application by property developers I & O Ltd for “58 ensuite student rooms with shared facilities and warden’s room on three floors” was approved in 2011 (11/01681/FUL): this does not include the shop that was part of the earlier approved application (10/03215/FUL).
- Oxford Mail, 1 May 2012: “Pub demolished to make way for flats”
- Oxford Mail, 22 April 2011: “Oxford landlord blames locals for pub flat scheme”
- Oxford Mail, 19 March 2011: “Former pub plan delayed”
- Oxford Mail, 6 December 2010: “Developers submit plans to demolish pub”
Northway’s Church
Northway is in the parish of St Andrew’s Church. This small evangelical church in Sutton Road grew out of some activities for children in the 1950s, and is hence almost as old as the Northway estate. The current building dates from April 1961.
Entrance to John Radcliffe Hospital
The new bus entrance to the John Radcliffe from Saxon Way, just before it opened on 15 September 2006.
Viking House
Viking House opened in Saxon Way in 2007 after being taken over by the Barnardo’s Charity, and cares for children with disabilities.
- Barnardo’s: Viking House
- Viking House Domiciliary Care Agency
- Oxford Mail, 16 August 2012: “Care centre unveils sensory room to celebrate fifth birthday”
Northway Regeneration Project
Two planning applications were submitted at the end of 2012 for the £18m regeneration project in Northway and Cowley, headed by Kevin McCloud and to be built by Haboakus (McCloud’s development company Hab in partnership with the housing association GreenSquare):
- 12/03280/FUL Demolition of existing buildings. Erection of 47 residential units
(9 x 1-bed, 14 x 2-bed, 15 x 3-bed, 4 x 4-bed, 5 x live/work units)
plus community centre in 5 blocks on 2, 3 and 4 levels.
Provision of 78 car parking spaces, 102 cycle parking spaces and landscaping - 12/03281/FUL Demolition of existing building.
Erection of 21 flats (14 x 1-bed, 7 x 2-bed) on 3 floors,
together with 21 car parking spaces, 56 cycle spaces and landscaping.
Oxford City Council is providing land in Northway for developers Haboakus, who in return plan to rebuild Northway community centre, and provide 41 affordable homes in Dora Carr Close and 28 flats in Westlands Drive. The Emmaus Charity furniture store will move to Cowley.
Press reports (newest at top)
- Oxford Mail, 12 March 2013: “Celebrity developer must pay for sewage works”
- Oxford Mail, 3 January 2013: “TV star’s £18m grand designs move closer”
- Oxford Mail, 14 August 2012: “McCloud homes back to the drawing board”
- Oxford Mail, 27 May 2012: “Row could delay community centre revamp”
- Oxford Mail, 18 May 2012: “Community centre redevelopment will go ahead”
- Oxford Mail, 17 May 2011: “TV property guru to reveal ideas for Oxford estates”
Northway Community Centre |
Above: Emmaus Oxford furniture store, which will move to Cowley
Barton Park development
Work started in November 2015 on the new road linking Northway to Barton Park.
The junction is now in use.
- Oxford Mail, 22 September 2011: “Residents fear bus link will ruin Northway”
