History of old Headington Co-op
on Windmill/London Road corner
Central Headington’s original Co-op (above) was situated at the junction of Windmill Road and London Road (in the same building that is now occupied by Buckell & Ballard and Oxford Design). In the twentieth century it spread both south down Windmill Road and east along Holyoake Terrace, becoming a large department store.
The Oxford Co-operative and Industrial Society Ltd (founded in 1872) purchased this corner site (then occupied by the disused toll-house) in 1889. At this time Old Headington, Quarry, and New Headington had their own high streets and shops, and the idea of a shop on the London Road to serve all three villages was a new one.
This shop, their seventh branch, was built in 1891 and opened in April 1892 "with a great fanfare of trumpets and much beating of big drums". The following article appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 23 April 1892:
Thomas Spencer was the Co-op manager for two years, and then George Church from 1895 to 1922. In the early years, the manager was accommodated over the shop: the 1901 census shows George (aged 39 and born in Watlington) living upstairs with his wife Sarah and their 16-year-old daughter Eveline (a post office telegraphist). By 1909 he had moved into a private house, Foxbury, on the London Road (the house now split between the Trade Exchange and a charity shop). In 1919 he was elected on to Headington Parish Council.
The entry for the shop in Bennett’s Business Directory for 1913 reads:
Oxford Co-operative and Industrial Society, Ltd. London rd. Grocery, provisions, bread, corn, meal, coal, boots, drapery, hardware, glass, china, etc. G. Church
In 1907 the Co-op built Holyoake Terrace, shown below, for the use of Co-op employees. It was demolished in 1938 and replaced by Holyoake Hall, with shops downstairs (which were used by the Co-op) and a dance hall upstairs.
From 1958 to 1980 all the shops from Windmill Road to the large shop to the east of Holyoake Road were part of the Oxford & District Co-operative Society.
In 1980 the Co-op moved to its present supermarket at the junction of London Road and Stile Road. The site was that of the former Eyles & Coxeter garage, which distributed Triumph, Rover, and Jaguar cars. The petrol station remained facing the London Road, but fell into disuse in the late 1990s, and in July 2003 work started on converting this area into a new entrance for the store.
The Co-op continues the tradition of helping the local community, and is always involved with the Headington Festival.