Friday, June 26, 2009

OCS Boot Repair Department


OCS Boot Repairing Department 1933 - St Marys Road, East Oxford
A simplistic Cape Dutch style building set back off St Marys Road. The squatters have moved in and the flytippers deposited. The building in front has been demolished leaving this facade visible.
What was the OCS Boot Repairing Department? Can anyone help with any further information please?

4 comments:

Michael said...

Oxford council services ? just guessing. In 1933 it won't have been computer services :)

Unknown said...

I love this building. I always thought it was Oxford Cooperative Society. Someone seems to have planning permission to build houses on the front of the land, and renovate the existing buildings into houses/flats... but nothing has happened yet.

Unknown said...

Thanks for your comments - My money would be on the Oxford Co-op as it would have been City of Oxford Corporation at that time for the council. From looking on Google, it appears boot repairs were a nice bit of business for the co-ops at that sort of time.

If the house builders dont hurry up, the squatters will make their job harder as between them and the flytippers, the site is a lot worse than when I last passed by, only a month ago.

Thanks again for solving this.
Vanessa

Gerald (SK14) said...

OCS is definitely Oxford Cooperative Society - the C and S part is identical to C and S on old H E C S buildings of Hyde Equitable Cooperative Society.

Repairing boots and shoe would have been a busy business in the 30s.

I recall a store in Sheffield years ago that had originally been the "Boot & Shoe" department, but by the 60s was only selling groceries.