Gourmet underground

From the archive, first published Friday 5th Oct 2007.

MOVES to transform St Aldate's into a vibrant new area of the city look set to begin with a new restaurant created underneath Oxford's central post office.

Merton College, owner of the site, is seeking a tenant to convert a large underground post office storage area into a plush basement restaurant.

The college has already acquired planning permission for the scheme, which will require extensive structural work.

The city's main post office is to become the focal point of major development plans, with the large sprawling site behind the building, also owned by Merton, to provide "a new dimension to shopping in Oxford".

Developers are presently in discussions with the city council about a multi-million-pound retail scheme linked by pedestrian routes to St Aldate's, Queen Street and Pembroke Street.

Merton initially wants to press ahead with its ambitions to see a 2,500 sq ft basement restaurant, to be entered from a staircase in St Aldate's.

There would be iron railings and a gate at the entrance, requiring the removal of a cashpoint machine and the relocation of a postbox at the front of the post office.

The basement site, overlooked by Christ Church and Oxford Town Hall, is being advertised by the Oxford-based letting company James, Styles & Whitlock.

The leaseholder would be expected to cover some of the cost of the conversion as part of the agreement. It is proposed that the annual rent should initially be set at about £75,000.

The college says the scheme is separate to bigger plans to develop a large plot of land south of Queen Street, which presently has a complex pattern of land uses, including yards, mini-cab firm offices and semi-derelict storage space.

The London-based development company, the Carlyle Group, has already signed long-leasehold agreements with Merton understood to cover about 75,000 sq ft.

It is proposed that the site, stretching from the Marks & Spencer store to St Aldate's, would be used as a new shopping area with offices and student accommodation.

It would be crossed by a series of narrow lanes, with a pedestrian square in the centre.

Nik Lyzba, of the Oxford-based planning consultant John Phillips Planning, which is acting for Merton, said: "We are still working on the final plans. We expect to have made some real progress by the end of the year. One of the great things about this scheme is that it will open up part of the city centre that people have never had access to before.

"It will not be a large shopping arcade and will not be in competition with the new Westgate centre. But it will add a new dimension to shopping in Oxford, which many people believe has become pretty poor."

The site is identified in the Oxford Local Plan as offering "an opportunity to create a range of small shops and improve pedestrian link through the site".

The scheme is expected to intensify pressure for the removal of buses from Queen Street, with years of negotiations between planners and bus companies having failed to find a way to re-route buses from the clogged-up shopping area.

Craig Middleton, of JSW, said no opening date for the restaurant could be given. "The timetable will be determined by whoever comes forward as interested parties."

Oxford's general post office, built between 1878 and 1880, was bought by Merton College in 2003.

The college leases the ground floor back to the post office.