Cowley Road: Is this multi-cultural street the 'real' Oxford?
Think of Oxford and you might picture the dreaming spires, the university's colleges, or punting on the Thames.But just outside the historic centre there is a bustling, multi-cultural street that some consider to be "the real Oxford".Cowley Road is only about a 10 minute walk from tourist attractions like the Radcliffe Camera, but it represents a completely different side of the city. And with a huge array of countries and cultures represented within the space of a few hundred metres, it is an area that would be unrecognisable without immigration.
As part of the BBC's Immigration Week, we spoke to some of Cowley Road's business owners about its diverse character.
Cowley Road once formed the main route to London from Oxford - and in the mid-19th Century began to be the hub for an expanding suburb.Historian Annie Skinner suggests, according to the 1951 census, it was predominantly inhabited by white working class families, before a wave of immigration over the next few decades transformed the area. Now every shop and restaurant has a story to tell, often of moving far from home in sometimes difficult circumstances.
Masood Khamloo came to the UK as a refugee from Iran and now owns the restaurant Shiraz - he wants to use it as a place to show people Iranian culture."As you know - there is lots going on in Iran," he said. "Our culture is not that of our government presently. "We have a very rich culture and to be honest we try... to show our customers and other nationalities - that we are not thinking how they do."We are not that kind of people."
At a time when the subject of immigration is divisive, there is a sense on Cowley Road that the area owes its vibrant identity to its diversity.That is something that Denise Mosciatti, who runs Italian restaurant La Smorfia feels.She said: "There's so much that one can learn from another culture; confronting themselves with other people, getting comfortable with other people's customs as well because they make you think, make you open your eyes and widen your horizons as well. "This is something that's enriching, it's not scary. "I feel like... especially in this area, people are very open and this is beautiful."
One of the road's most recent arrivals is the restaurant Afghan Cuisine, which was set up by business partners Hijarat Meshwanai and Abdullah Sarkani.Mr Sarkani said their food is appealing to a wide range of people, but they are getting increasing interest from English customers.He said: "You're coming from a small village, move to this country and then... serving the food and the people like and love your food. "That's a very big thing."
Shaista Aziz is a long-term East Oxford resident and an antiracism campaigner - she says the road is "very special"."We're very lucky for a city of this size to have so much diversity on this road alone - and it does draw lots of people in," she said."And it also shows how people have been living together for decades and decades and where there are challenges people work through those challenges. "That's what you do when you're in a community."Cowley Road for me is the heart of East Oxford - and East Oxford is where the real Oxford is."
You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fashion United
an hour ago
- Fashion United
Albania's women silk makers weave big dreams for ancient trade
Albanian women have long been famed for their stylish and colourful traditional attire that some still wore until relatively recently. And few were more chic than the women of Zadrima who wore their own handmade silks and headdresses, their fine gauze blouses set off with belts and swathes of red silk. But that age-old know-how was almost lost until silk making was dragged back from the edge of extinction by a group of local women who now master every stage of production, from raising the silkworms to weaving the precious fabric. "The history of silk" in this region of northern Albania nestled between the mountains and the Adriatic Sea "goes back to the 10th century", ethnologist Aferdita Onuzi told AFP. Often the silk was exported and it was particularly prized by the Italian and French nobility. But Albania's postwar communist regime centralised it all to a single factory for processing and weaving silk, which was completely destroyed after the fall of the dictatorship in the early 1990s. Then massive emigration and competition from synthetic fibres nearly killed the tradition. But for the last 15 years or so Franceska Pjetraj and her family, along with other women in the picturesque region, have been working to revive the craft. "It is a tradition as old as Zadrima," said Franceska, 30, who has opened a workshop with her mother Mimoza. "In the past, women here dressed in silk -- it was one of their joys," she added. Like other women in the long impoverished region, they are also weaving dreams of a better life. "Here, everything is done in an artisanal way, from cultivating and extracting silk threads to weaving and completing the final product," said Mimoza, 54, a nurse. 'They are like babies' The Zadrima region is ideal for white mulberry trees, whose leaves are silkworms' favourite food. "Raising a silkworm is fascinating," said the younger Pjetraj while tending to her caterpillars, which are carefully installed on the shelves of a dark barn. "They are like babies -- they demand as much dedication and love as children," she added. Some seem disturbed at the slightest noise, while others continue weaving their cocoons, secreting the famous silk thread. "Their life cycle lasts five to seven weeks," Pjetraj said, "and during this time they must be fed and given close attention". Delicate and highly sensitive, the worms cannot tolerate temperatures above 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit), nor cold or humidity, much less pesticides. And thunderstorms really frighten them. "From cocoon to thread and from thread to weaving, it is an art," said her mother Mimoza. "It requires skill, patience, but also passion." The cocoons are harvested before the butterflies leave them. They are first plunged into a bath of boiling water to soften them, then brushed with a small broom to unravel the threads, which are stretched and then woven. Last year Mimoza and her daughter were able to produce 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of silk thread that was transformed into stoles, skirts and blouses. "Happily we have no shortage of orders," said Mimoza, "because of our high quality and competitive prices." Hundreds of other women have followed their example in Zadrima and its surroundings and taken up breeding silkworms and artisanal weaving. Rozana Gostorani, 18, hopes one day to see the silk she weaves on the runways of big luxury fashion brands. "It is a very ancient trade... and also a high-quality art. I think (fashion houses) like Versace or Dolce & Gabbana should draw inspiration from the garments we produce here," she smiled.(AFP)
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Mount Stewart: BBC Winterwatch to host 2025 show at County Down estate
Mount Stewart in County Down will be the venue for Winterwatch 2026, the BBC has woodlands, farmland fields, hedgerows and ponds are home to about 10,000 recorded species, and its location on the shores of Strangford Lough will allow viewers plenty of opportunity to spot winter National Trust site suffered massive tree loss during Storm Éowyn in January estate team has also made plans to protect its plants and gardens from the predicted effects of climate change. The Springwatch 2025 team has already spent the past week at Mount Stewart and will return for four nights in early January. 'The perfect location' Presenters Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and Iolo Williams will be finding out about the latest wildlife updates, with red squirrels, pine martens and badgers all expected to put in an like the linnet, goldfinch and redwing are also frequent visitors to the estate for its berries and seeds. Jack Bootle, the BBC's head of specialist factual commissioning, said Mount Stewart was "beautiful and teeming with wildlife", making it the "perfect" location for Winterwatch."We're delighted to be working with the National Trust and our partners at the Open University to bring this amazing part of Northern Ireland to audiences across the UK," he said. Live cameras Live cameras will be set up across the site and viewers from across the UK will be able to get involved in the programmes."We know how much BBC audiences will enjoy getting to see more of Mount Stewart and its wildlife," said BBC Northern Ireland's director Adam Smyth."We are delighted to be working with BBC Studios and the Natural History Unit in bringing this large-scale BBC outside broadcast to Northern Ireland," he said."It should be a perfect start to the new television year." The estate's general manager, Jenny Ferguson, said her team was "thrilled" to be welcoming the Winterwatch team back in January."We are excited to tell more stories about the wide range of wildlife which makes their home here on the shores of Strangford Lough and across the wider demesne, plus the challenges nature and our teams face in adapting to the changing climate and more regular and extreme weather events," she added.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
'Investing in caravan in Lancashire left massive hole in finances'
A couple who bought a caravan under the belief it was a safe investment said they had been left with a "massive hole in their finances" after selling it on for much less and Lindsey Kitching purchased the caravan at Ribble Valley Country and Leisure Park in Lancashire for £38,000 in they said they had no choice but to sell their holiday home three years later at a loss of £28,000 due to various factors including rising site site owners, Park Holidays UK, said they remained proud of the park's "reputation for creating high-quality and friendly environments for people to spend their leisure time" and the homes were "intended as long-term purchases". The couple shared their story following a BBC investigation that revealed how people had lost their life savings, inheritance and pensions when the holiday homes they had bought lost and Mrs Kitching, who have two children and live in Warrington, Cheshire, said they had spent years saving their money to buy the caravan. "I had an illness, so it stopped me travelling abroad so much so we thought 'we'll invest in a bit of a holiday home'," said Mrs Kitching."It was very easy [to buy it]. They were talking like it was an investment. "You weren't spending your money, you were investing it." But after a few years, partly due to rising site fees, the family decided to sell the couple said the annual site fee was £4,800 when they bought the caravan, and it had raised to £5,600 by the time they sold it."Prices were rising, but things were getting taken away from the park like the children's indoor play area" said Mrs Kitching. "We thought this isn't for us any more. We're not getting the use of the caravan, we can't rent it out."Privately renting out the caravan to other holidaymakers was disallowed, as stated in the contract when they bought it. Mr Kitching said there were only two options left."[The park] bought it off us, which they weren't willing to do."A second option was for us to sell it privately ourselves, which [the park] still got 15 per cent of the sale."The couple said they could only sell the caravan for £10,000 - a loss of £28,000 plus the 15% commission. "It's left a massive hole in our finances," said Mrs Kitching. "That was all we had, we'd saved up everything."I would say it was one of the most stressful things that we've ever had to endure."A spokesperson for Park Holidays UK said a 15 per cent commission on sales was standard across the industry and the homes were "intended as long-term purchases".It comes as members of the Holiday Park Action Group (HPAG) are seeking compensation for what they say were unfair increases in annual pitch fees and misleading claims about the value of static caravans at the time of purchase. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
