Oxford has long been a bit of an anomaly on the UK tourism scene. Tourists flock to its beautiful streets, gazing up at the spires and turrets of the colleges, yet there has always been a lack of stylish, modern, reasonably affordable hotels. The arrival of The Store does much to remedy that.
The Store bills itself as being at the heart of the city, and there is plenty to back up this claim. It’s situated on a key crossroads, where Broad Street meets St Giles - a place where every visitor will inevitably find themselves as they navigate the city. Turn right out of the entrance and you will soon find yourself in the heart of things, with the Sheldonian Theatre and the Radcliffe Camera a five-minute walk up Broad Street. The site of the hotel is a natural landmark - from 1912 it was home to the city’s main department store, Boswells, which occupied a firm place in residents’ hearts for decades. Sadly it was already dying a protracted death when I lived here 20 years ago, thanks to the arrival of bigger, more modern shops, and it was high time that something came along to revitalise this much-frequented part of Oxford.
Locals also have plenty of reasons to visit, which gives the hotel a buzzing feel. There is a generous bar on the ground floor where people can meet for coffees, afternoon teas and drinks during the day and even hole up for a day's remote working. The stylish rooftop bar on the fifth floor offers views up the famous Broad Street, where students and professors cycle ceaselessly. It seems a shame that the public was ever deprived of lingering over this view when the place was a shop. The restaurant, Treadwell, offers well executed ‘untraditionally British’ cuisine, from our adopted favourite steak frites to ale-battered fish and chips, and was busy on the weekday night when I visited.
Design-wise, The Store is smart and modern, with plenty of on-trend details, from the velvet-upholstered headboards to the reeded joinery that pops up in rooms and public areas. It is bigger than you might expect for the centre of a small(ish) city, with 101 rooms across a long, sprawling site. The atmosphere and aesthetic skews things towards a younger audience, but everything is comfortable and it is easy to see the hotel catering admirably to the wide range of visitors Oxford attracts, whether they are the families of students or tourists keen to take in the historic sights. For those looking to splash out a bit, some of the spacious rooms on the fourth floor have balconies overlooking the Broad, which is rather a treat. The hotel's drive for affordable luxury is reflected in the presence of a spa at the basement level, which features a sauna and steam room as well as a studio for yoga classes and treatment rooms for massages and beauty treatments in collaboration with Oskia.
Although the hotel feels entirely part of the modern world now, there are plenty of references to the site's past, and the staff are charmingly quick to point out to those who used to come to Boswells where the handbag and scarf department used to be, and where the kitchenwares were housed. The signature cocktails at the rooftop bar are full of Oxford references – ‘The 1738’, for example, refers to the date Boswell’s was established on another site. The Restaurant, Treadwell, is named after Treadwell Passage, a Victorian street which used to occupy part of the hotel's site. For those looking for contemporary comfort combined with city history, you won't be able to do better in Oxford than The Store.
Doubles at The Store start from £285.
