No. 56: Oxfam Bookshop
At the time of the 1772 survey, the street to the south of this building (now Pusey Street, but originally Alfred Street) did not exist, and the premises of No. 56 (the house and timber yard of Mr Howell) extended southwards to No. 57.
No. 56 is today a large corner building facing on to Pusey Street as well as St Giles. It was built around 1800, and is a Grade II listed building (ref. 1485/520). It is now owned by Regent’s Park College.
This was a grocer’s shop for many years. George Fox Bridges is listed as a grocer in St Giles as early as 1830, and he was probably already in this shop. He was certainly here at the time of the 1851 census, when he is living upstairs with his brother John (a portrait painter), his unmarried sister Mary, and Ann, who had married the Revd Arrowsmith. They had one servant. By 1861 Bridges had moved to 43 St Giles’.
By the time of the 1861 census, John Nalder had taken over the business and lived over the shop with his wife Elizabeth and his grocer’s assistant and an apprentice, plus a house servant.
In 1881 Alfred Louch was the grocer here, employing three men and one boy: he and his wife and two daughters lived over the shop with their two servants.
The picture on the left shows the shop in about 1925, when W. H. Chandler was the grocer and there was a private hotel upstairs
In 1987 the shop was opened by John Mortimer as the first of Oxfam’s 76 specialist charity bookshops. In 2004 it was reported as selling up to 2,000 books a week and making a profit of about £200,000 a year. It pays full rent for the shop to Regent’s Park College, but all the stock is donated, and it is run by 75 volunteers and just one paid manager.
Right: Portrait of Mary Nalder, probably painted by John Bridges (George Fox Bridge’s brother). Aquarelle nr. 16 name “Mary Nalder”, no signature on the front. Size: 12 x 14 cm
John Nalder, who was born in Ducklington, was the grocer who took over from George Fox Bridges here at 56 St Giles. The 1861 census shows him at the age of 42 living over this shop with his wife Elizabeth (44) and a shopman, an apprentice, and a servant. The situation was similar at the time of the 1871 census.
| Occupants of 56 St Giles’ Street listed in censuses and directories | ||
| Downstairs | Upstairs | |
| 1830–1852+ | George Fox Bridges Grocer |
Private accommodation |
| 1861–1876 | John Nalder Grocer & tea dealer |
|
| 1880–1881 | Alfred Louch Grocer & tea dealer |
|
| 1882–1923 | Arthur Cook Grocer & tea dealer Mrs A. Cook from 1896 |
|
| 1925–1945 | William Henry Chandler (1925–1930) Charles E. Chandler (1932–1945) Grocer |
St Giles Private Hotel Mrs D. Bliss Rita & Peter Oxford |
| 1947–1956 | R. Stanley Cleaver Grocer, later Wine, spirit & beer merchant |
|
| 1958–1976 | Wimpy Bar |
|
| Late 1970s–1982 | ? | |
| 1987–present | Oxfam Bookshop | College flats with No. 55 (NFH/199/82) |