When people think of the 1980s they remember the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, 1980s bands, Margaret Thatcher and the miners’ strike.

These photos from our archive are a reminder of daily life in Oxford during that decade.

In 1981, a sex shop on Cowley Road was causing quite a stir.

READ MORE: Why two people were arrested in the city centre

'Militant mothers' mounted a protest picket as the city's first sex shop opened its doors in March 1981.

The handful of early customers – including two middle aged women – had to run a gauntlet of placard-waving protesters who thronged the pavement outside the shop in Cowley Road.

There were even scuffles as one man tried to wrestle a press photographer's camera from him after being photographed leaving the store.

The pickets – mothers, local residents and feminist group members – started assembling outside the shop shortly before it opened and said they planned to continue the picket for months if necessary until the shop moved out but they were not successful and there has been a sex shop on Cowley Road for decades.

Oxford Mail:

In December 1983, a blast sent a bomb blast sent a telephone kiosk door more than 60ft across a road.

READ MORE: Oxfordshire pub handed new food hygiene rating 

No one was injured by the blast on the corner of William Street and Marston Road, but police said it was not a prank.

The bomb rocked the area at 10.50pm, seconds after teenager John Horvath walked past the phone booth.

Mr Horvath, of Hugh Allen Crescent, said: "I turned and saw the telephone box door fly across the road like a frisbee, scattering glass.

"Fifteen seconds earlier, I would have been in its path and killed. Smoke billowed out from the whole box, and it smelt weird."

Bomb experts from Brize Norton discovered another suspect package in a telephone kiosk outside the sub post office in Old Marston Road.

Oxford Mail:

In 1986, Brother Beyond delighted fans when they turned up in Cornmarket.

Oxford Mail:

And there were plenty of contestants for the Miss Oxford competition at the Oxford Mail office in 1982.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get: 

  • Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website 
  • Advert-light access 
  • Reader rewards 
  • Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.