Oxford City Council has rejected an application by Regent’s Park College to convert the Oxfam Bookshop on St Giles’ Street into its Middle Common Room (MCR), citing local regulations limiting city centre ground-floor units to specific uses such as retail, culture, tourism, and entertainment.
Regent’s Park told Cherwell that the College is “reviewing our options in light of the council’s decision”, and that the proposed change of use of the building was intended “to provide a larger, fit-for-purpose MCR and dedicated postgraduate study space to meet the needs of its expanded postgraduate body”.
The College told Cherwell that the site currently occupied by the Oxfam Bookshop “represents the best opportunity to provide an accessible, above-ground MCR within our existing on-site buildings”. The site at 56 St Giles is part of the College’s estate and is currently divided between the bookshop, which has been running since 1987, and student accommodation.
The change-of-use proposal claimed that the building was not in the city centre as officially defined and that college activities on the site would not “lead to detrimental effects” such as artificial lighting, construction, or “impact upon the significance of the heritage asset”. In their rejection of the application, the City Council did not dispute that it was unlikely that “any harm would arise from the change of use itself”, but noted that the site was, in fact, part of the city centre area by the standards of the Oxford Local Plan 2036.
Local regulations set out acceptable uses of buildings in central Oxford, particularly in reference to sustainable development, designated heritage assets, and “ensuring the vitality of centres”. The Council documents also summarised objections to the proposal from members of the public, who noted an “effect on character of area” and “loss of community asset”, alongside fears of “noise and disturbance” and difficulties with accessible access.
The current Regent’s Park College MCR was established in 2005, when the College had a graduate community of only 30 members, and is located underground in a former storage basement with no windows, as noted in their planning application. The College cited the fivefold expansion of the graduate student body over the past two decades and the inaccessibility of the site as reasons why the current MCR was “wholly unsuitable”. Regent’s Park’s planning application also referenced how “the University has drawn attention to the importance of suitable, inclusive facilities for postgraduate students, and the College must respond”.
The rejection of planning permission comes after Jesus College successfully converted the former Burger King on Cornmarket Street into student accommodation in 2025. Other colleges also have plans for new developments in the near future, including Magdalen College, which will be demolishing a 1960s building to construct more student housing.
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