Oxford Covered Market

The Covered Market in Oxford was opened 1774, and is one of my favourites.  If you enter from the entrance on The High:

you'll soon find Ben's Cookies:

who started in this market and now have 10 outlets in the UK, and also trade in Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

It was originally built for butchers (and had 40 shops), to clear "untidy, messy and unsavoury stalls" from the streets of Oxford.  Today there's just four butchers, which are smart and attractive:

The market is the place to get your Oxford sausage, originally made with veal as well as pork and was also skinless.

David John:

supplies Oxford sausages:

to restaurants like The Big Bang, and also caters for vegetarians with seven types of vegetarian sausage:

He's also the biggest pie maker in Oxford:

and will also sell you some Oxford Sauce to go with it.

Hedges:

have been trading since 1896, and also sell game.

M Feller Son & Daughter:

specialise in organic meats.  According to their web site, they are the proud owners of the world's oldest ham!  They take their cooking seriously around here so it was nice to see bags of bones for making stock here as well.

Haymans Fisheries:

have over 50 different species available, and sell live crabs and lobster:

Baskavilles and Bonners both have good displays of fruit and vegetables.

Come again in the autumn to buy all sorts of mushrooms.

Nash's Bakery from Bicester have a stall, try their Lardy Cake:

The Cake Shop also keeps undergraduates and postgraduates in cake:

They also offer a wide variety of celebration cakes including wedding cakes, birthday cakes, corporate cakes and more, plus a good range of sugar craft materials.

Cardew & Co sell tea and coffee and ancillary equipment:

Moo Moo's has a cult status amongst the students:

and does an amazing number of milk shakes and smoothies.

Not every stall is food. I've been a regular customer at Next to Nothing over the years:

My favourite purchases include a wine stains t-shirt (sadly most of my friends think they're genuine), and the Harold I Spy t-shirt. 

Towards the Market Street entrance there's Bolitas:

which are Brazilian cheese flavoured balls, made with tapioca flour, cheddar cheese, free range eggs and milk:

They're cheaper than a Mars bar, contain no added sugar, and are free from gluten, wheat and yeast.

I've saved my favourite shop for the end, Robert Pouget's Oxford Cheese Company:

There's a wide and varied selection of British and Continental cheeses here:

many are unpasteurised and sourced direct from the producer.  There's a particularly good selection of blue cheeses:

including Robert's own Oxford Blue (similar to Stilton, with a creamier consistency).  They also do an Oxford Isis cheese, a full fat cheese which has the rind washed in Oxfordshire Honey Mead and College White which is a bit like a brie.

In 2000, to celebrate the millennium, Robert created the previously mentioned Baron Pouget’s Oxford Sauce.  It's a spicy sauce, the recipe came more or less by accident when the decimal point on the chilli content was mis-read! 

Like all good cheese shops, samples are freely given:

The more you try, the more you'll buy!

Oxford Covered Market

Market Street

Oxford 

OX1 3DZ

Web: www.oxford-coveredmarket.co.uk