No.44 bus with old Webbers ad

City of Oxford Motor Services

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Isisbridge ^club

www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/community/memorylane/10720992.The_last_days_of_the_emporium

Oxford Mail:

WEBBERS was a household name in Oxford for more than 60 years. Shoppers flocked to the popular High Street store – in front of the Covered Market – to buy the latest clothes, perfume, furniture, carpets, bedding and curtains.

Webbers’ roots can be traced to the late-18th century when James Clarke started a drapery business at 13 High Street, a building designed by John Gwynne, architect of Magdalen Bridge. On the wet plaster, the new owner proudly wrote: “James Clarke, mercer, 1774.”

Successive generations hid Clarke’s signature beneath several layers of wallpaper, but it was later uncovered, glazed and framed. The building had earlier been occupied by the King’s Head Tavern. Two other drapers traded next door and eventually the whole complex became the City Drapers Stores controlled by Edward Beaumont, an Oxford magistrate. He sold out to Charles Webber in 1905.

Mr Webber expanded the business and when it became part of the Hide Group of drapery and furnishing stores in 1952, there was a staff of more than 200. The Hide group continued Webbers’ development by revamping the High Street store and opening another at Cowley Centre in the early 1960s. The High Street facade was redesigned to look as it had in the 1770s and bigger windows were installed. One feature was the 152ft-long roller blind, the biggest in the country.

But the Webbers’ name did not last long. The High Street store closed in October 1971, the owners blaming “site limitation and lack of future potential”. The site was sold for a reported £250,000 and split into separate shops. The Cowley Centre store closed and another time-honoured Oxford name was consigned to history.

7 years ago. Edited 4 years ago.

Isisbridge ^club

Vintage Oxford Buses video:
www.ipernity.com/doc/isisbridge/31534975

7 years ago.

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No.44 bus with old Webbers ad

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