History of 113 London Road, Headington
This shop was the fourth of the sixteen houses of Westbourne Terrace, built between Old High Street and Bury Knowle Park in the 1890s. In the 1920s the address of this house was 35 London Road, but it was renumbered 113 in 1933.
At the time of the 1901 census this house was occupied by William Coppock (37), a rate collector, and his wife Annabella.
From 1926 this house was occupied by Henry John Langham, and from the 1940s to 1969 by Mrs Langham .
Its first use as a commercial property was in 1970, when it became the Headington branch of Baxter’s Butchers. This firm remained in the shop until the 1980s.
In about 1984 the shop became a delicatessen called the Chef’s Pantry. In 1992 their planning application for “Change of use from class A1 retail to Class A3 café and fish and chip take-away” was dismissed on appeal (92/00008/NF). None the less the shop developed the fast-food side of its business until it closed in 2004.
In 2004 an application for a “Certificate of Lawfulness – Existing Use: Application to certify that the authorised use of the premises for the sale of fast food and as a delicatessen (Class A3) is lawful” (04/00942/CEU) was refused because:
The use of the premises as a delicatessen as detailed by records held by the Oxford City Council Environmental Health Department indicate that the use of the property during the last ten years falls within A1 shops Class 1 and not A3 food and drink, of the Use Classes Order 1987.
Later in 2004 it became La Plaza delicatessen and café.
In 2008 it was renamed the Copacabana Café and started putting tables out on the pavement..
