A SUSHI takeaway is to open in Cornmarket Street in Oxford.

Korea Foods has submitted plans to Oxford City Council to open the new takeaway in the Cheng Yu Tung building owned by Jesus College.

The former Northgate House was turned into a £40m student hub by the college. 

READ MORE: Tennis star Emma Raducanu is spotted in Henley 

Following a construction project lasting three years, the hub featuring student accommodation and facilities, a health centre and retail units opened in 2022.

King Edward Street Medical Practice, 27 Beaumont Street Medical Practice and 28 Beaumont Street GP Practice all moved to the new location.

Cosy Club restaurant opened in the building last year but no other shops or businesses have opened there yet.

The Cosy Club venue occupies a large space on the first floor, with the restaurant and bar running the length of the entire building. There is space for about 200 diners.

HSBC has submitted plans to move to the building from its branch near Carfax but has not yet made the move.

Now, Korea Foods has submitted plans for a Seoul Plaza sushi takeaway in one of the building's retail units on the ground floor.

The plans for new illuminated signs say: "The unit will be a retail shop for specialised Asian food, including a prep kitchen, providing handmade sushi on site for takeaway."

(Image: Studio Penn London) The new takeaway will face competition from Itsu, and Wasabi Sushi & Bento, both nearby in Cornmarket.

READ MORE: School limits car parking to give pupils a bigger playground 

Seoul Plaza will be the latest new restaurant to open in the busy shopping street.

Last month a new Greek restaurant called Sizzled opened.

To date Sizzled has been operating restaurants at shopping centres - Bluewater in Kent, Lakeside in Essex, and Merry Hill in the west Midlands.

Now the chain has opened a fourth restaurant on the corner of St Michael's Street, in a unit previously occupied by a souvenir shop.

Owner Makis Nikolaou said last month he was delighted to have opened a fourth branch of Sizzled.

(Image: Andy Ffrench) He said at the time: "In the past we have opened in shopping centres but a friend of mine suggested we should open in the city centre instead.

"Tourists are always going to come into Cornmarket - when you are a tourist you want to see Oxford and Oxford is not the Westgate.

"We had an opportunity to go into the Westgate but decided to open here instead."

The restaurant owner said the reception from customers has been very positive so far. 

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.