When the shops in Elms Parade took their first deliveries in 1937 their goods rolled up in a horse and cart.

But now the shops rely on refrigerated lorries and use the latest marketing techniques to sell their wares.

Although a great deal has changed in the intervening years, the parade in Botley is still family-run and packed with independently-owned shops.

And this year family members from across the world gathered in Botley to celebrate its 70th anniversary.

Local farmer Stephen Howse built the shops on farmland just two years before the start of the Second World War.

Although embarking on the project was a big risk, the gamble paid off and has left successive generations of his family with a welcome nest egg.

advertisement Mr Howse's granddaughter Caroline Kellner, 56, said: "They are very small units in today's standards, but then they were not.

"All these houses were going up and he thought they were going to need somewhere to shop. It was a calculated risk, but a very wise one. He was a very astute businessman."

Mrs Kellner said the parade had not changed much in the 70 years it had been doing business. She said: "There's not a great deal of difference. We have had new shop fronts, the roof has slightly changed and we are in the process of putting double glazing in."

Today Mr Howse is remembered at the parade, which consists of 13 shops and seven flats, with a plaque and a clock inscribed with his name.

The entrepreneur decided to develop Elms Farm, where he ran a well-known dairy, when he realised Oxford was expanding westwards.

And his three grandchildren - Mrs Kellner, who lives in Northamptonshire, Robert Howse, 75, of Farmoor, and Arthur Howse, 70, of Charlbury - are in charge of running the shopping parade today.

They invited their extended families for a reunion in Oxford in July to mark the anniversary - with some coming from as far away as South Africa and Greece.

Mrs Kellner said: "We all met up, had a tour around the parade and reminisced.

"Most of our generation had lived on it when we were younger but none of us do now. There were about 23 of us.

"The two from South Africa had never been over before and never seen it. It was nice for that next generation to meet. It was a way of us telling them how we run it.

"I think my grandfather would be pleased it's still in the family. I think he would be pleased we have tried to keep it in keeping with the era it was built in."