123: Phase Eight
No. 123 is on the corner of Alfred Street. It was built on the site of the Bear Inn (formerly the Tabard) in 1790, but has been altered. It is a Grade II listed building (ref. 1485/340).
In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. Nos. 123 and 124 then formed one house, in the occupation of a Mr Brockis, and its double frontage measured 14 yards 2 feet 4 inches.
This building became Oxford’s Post Office when the penny post was introduced in 1840, but in 1842 it suffered a serious fire and the post office moved into the Town Hall.
At the time of the 1851 census Charles Foster lived over his pair of shops at 123 and 124 High Street with his wife and seven young children, a tailor’s clerk, three general servants, a governess, and an errand boy; he was still there in 1861.
Together with 124 and 125, this building is not properly marked on the 1876 map of Oxford and was unoccupied at the time of the 1881 census, suggesting that major rebuilding work was taking place.
Foster & Co. started business next door in No. 124 before 1846, but this is the shop to which they retreated in 1895. Their advertisement on the front page of the very first edition of the Oxford Times of 6 September 1862 reads:
C. FOSTER & CO.
TAILORS, ROBE MAKERS, &c., &c.
Desire respectfully to acknowledge the great and increasing Patronage with which they have been favoured by the Members of the University and by the Residents in the City and County, and beg to intimate that their large and extending Business enables them to offer for inspection, a larger and more extensive collection of Materials for GENTLEMEN’s CLOTHING, than can be elswhere presented in the County.Their Stock now includes a great variety of SCOTCH, IRISH, WEST OF ENGLAND, and other NEW FABRICS and PATTERNS, specially adapted for Complete and durable Suits, which are made up in good style and very cheap.
First-rate skill in Cutting, Good Materials, and the Best Workmanship, will be combined with strict moderation in price.
C. FOSTER & CO.
123 & 124 HIGH STREET, OXFORD
| Occupiers of 123 High Street | |
| 1839 | Joseph Warne Tailor, Mercer, & Hatter |
| 1840–1842 | Oxford’s main Post Office |
| 1846 | John Parsons Tailor & hatter |
| 1852 | Parsons & Foster Hatters, mercers, and tailors (and at 124) |
| Before 1861–1939 | Foster & Co. Tailors, robe makers, and Indian outfitters (This was their main shop, but they also occupied Nos. 124 and 125 in the nineteenth century) |
| 1941–1964 | Alkit Ltd Tailors |
| 1966–1975 | Vacant |
| By 1998–1999 | Jumpers Ltd. |
| 1999–present | Phase Eight |