40
This is the page for 40 Cowley Road
?Date - Present
At present this is the PIP Consultation Centre run by Independent Assessment Services. This is where people receiving disability benefits are assessed.
2012
This was Beeline Bicycles as can be seen here
1986 - 2011
From 1986 to 2011 this was Bead Games run by Erica Steinhauer[1]. As well as beads and other craft findings and party accessories, you could hire or buy exotic and antique costumes. To stay in business Erica later stocked confectionery that resembled the beads. She also organised the Mad Hatter's Tea Parties every May in Dawson Street and tried to resist the colonisation of Dawson Street by the outdoor seating of Cafe Coco (No 23) and Kazbar (No 25) both owned (along with Cafe Tarifa No 56) by Clinton Pugh. The shop's closure was covered in an article by the Oxford Mail.
Notable residents of the flat above Bead Games (at different times over the years) have included the journalist Laurie Penny, Indelicates drummer Emma-Ben Lewis, and the spoken-word poet Jay Bernard.
Shortly before it closed, Bead Games appeared in a 2011 episode of ITV's Lewis, entitled Old Unhappy Far Off Things.
1970s
Kelly's Directory 1975 to 1976 and Yellow Pages 1979 No 40 Dog Care Centre
1940s - 1960s
Kelly's Directory 1968 to 1969 No 40 Touchwood Sports Ltd
Kelly's Directory 1943 to 1966 No 40 John Thorne greengrocer
Before then?
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Do you know more about this business, or remember what was at this address before? Do you have any old photographs or memories to share? Please add them to the site! Search for How to contribute in box at top right.
