The winter extension of Oxford’s alfresco hospitality is a great example of how many town and city centres have responded creatively to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the latest in our series of national case case studies prepared for the Local Government Association, Oxford’s on-street alfresco hospitality offer is another great example of place leaders enabling a ‘safe and warm’ welcome back to town.
Recognising the challenge
As Oxford city centre and its businesses reopened over summer 2020, following closure due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the City Council realised the importance of reacting swiftly to safeguard its hospitality sector. City centre cafes and restaurants are normally the lifeblood of the social and visitor economies. Instead, social distancing measures meant these were amongst the businesses facing the most profound challenges in operating viably and surviving.
Rapid response
Oxford City Council’s successful summer response saw the part-pedestrianisation of the busy George Street during August and September as a trial. This was based on learning from the provision of outside seating areas in adjacent city centre streets. The part-pedestrianisation was achieved in a three-week flurry of activity to prepare the street which included working closely with bus companies to re-route services away from a busy transport hub.
Successful summer pilot
To support businesses and protect jobs in the face of restrictions and some customer concerns, post-COVID 19 lockdown, Oxford City and Oxfordshire County councils worked with with the city’s hospitality sector to create an on-street outside tables & chairs offer. This successful pilot approach, which has helped safeguard jobs and maintain the vitality of the city centre, has now been extended into the autumn and winter.
A selective survey of businesses in George Street revealed that 75% said the overall experience of Oxford’s alfresco hospitality for their business was markedly positive. Two of the 12 businesses said they only reopened after lockdown because of the pedestrianisation; a message that echoed that from a number of other city centre businesses who had argued they could not open viably without outside tables & chairs areas.
Extended for autumn and winter
As winter comes around and city centre businesses prepare for the run-up to Christmas, the City Council has recognised that the challenges and need for a coordinated approach to Oxford’s alfresco hospitality remain. The autumn and winter responses have built on the experiences, learning and feedback from the summer pilot programme, to support alfresco hospitality in Oxford city centre.
The autumn response from Oxford Council’s Restart Team, was once again, not risk averse. Working with the highways authority, the City Council has decided to pedestrianise sections of more streets across the city. The aim again is to support hospitality businesses that needed additional space to operate on a commercial basis whilst maintaining social distancing.
More information
The case study on Oxford’s on-street alfresco hospitality has been prepared by People & Places as part the Local Governments Association’s updated revitalising town centres on-line toolkit which includes practical guidance on post-COVID 19 recovery planning. You can also read other case studies in a series on town centre recovery and revitalisation prepared for the LGA, including: Leamington’s safe & welcoming reopening; Solihull’s place leadership; tracking Nuneaton’s footfall through the pandemic; reopening hospitality in Westminster; and reopening & revitalising Selby and reopening East Suffolk.
For up-to-date information on how town partnerships can respond to the COVID-19 crisis, keep an eye on the beyond COVID-19 page of this web site, which has recently featured posts on managing streets and public spaces in 2020 and tracking national trends in adapting for recovery.
