Fascinating photos from the Oxford Mail archive show Cornmarket Street cluttered up with traffic.

In 1999, councillors leaders decided to ban traffic from the city's busiest shopping street and buses and cars were rerouted to make shoppers the priority.

When the new Westgate Centre was being built there was a debate about buses being banned from Queen Street too but this never happened, and some buses still use it.

READ MORE: Flowers left at scene where motorcyclist died

In our photos queues of cars can be seen in Cornmarket in 1961, and buses are still taking up a lot of space in 1982.(Image: Oxford Mail)

Once vehicles were removed, there was much more room for protesters to lobby shoppers and there have been numerous environmental protests over the years.

(Image: Feng Ho) In 2022, Extinction Rebellion climate change protesters covered themselves in black dye before lying down in the street.

Some photos of Cornmarket in the archive date back many years.

(Image: David Brown) David Brown has sent in a photo of the street during the Second World War in 1944.

And Val Faulkner has provided a photo of Woolworths staff on the roof of their store.

(Image: Val Faulkner/David Brown) There were tears when shoppers were told in 1982 that Woolworths in Cornmarket was about to close.

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.