In celebration of indie retailers

“I left my phone alone for one hour and you lot have eaten the entirety of Oxford!”

So went the Clarion WhatsApp chat when we started discussing our favourite independent retailers in Oxford. 21 March is the first ever Indie Oxford Day, a new annual event launched by tireless indie promoters Independent Oxford. But, in truth, every day is Indie Oxford Day, and we jumped at the chance to share recommendations of places we love.

The categories in this article are alphabetical, entirely arbitrary, and very definitely food-heavy. We’ve tried to be celebratory rather than comprehensive, just highlighting a few of the incredible indies that make Oxford such a special place to live and work. We hope some readers find a new gem to try: we salute everyone we included and probably a whole lot more we inexplicably left out. Thank you for making our city what it is.

Bread

Our resident data scientist is still working on quantifying it, but believes it is possible that Magdalen Road has a lock on the best sourdough bread within statutory limits of Carfax Tower. If queues at Hamblin and Missing Bean are too long, nab the Oxford Sourdough at The Larder – it's great, especially as the base for Monte Cristo or for the slightly misnamed Monster Sandwich (butter and peanut butter on open-face sourdough). That said, others in our team would fight for Gatineau in Summertown, and its daily patisserie and fresh bread, which wouldn't look out of place in the Marais. While we're on things yeasty: get yourself to Proof Social if you've somehow not done so already. You could avoid their cinnamon bun with myriad other sweet and savoury treats, but why would you? And the coffee is every bit as good as the baked offerings.

Bike repair

Wherever we come from in Oxfordshire, we all love Warlands on Botley Road, who have rescued Clarion bikes large (cargo) and small (folding) countless times. Honourable shout-outs to Broken Spoke Bike Co-op, who both fix bikes and do amazing community work, and also Reg Taylor. We do miss Jonny Ives' Quarry Cycles though, and his annual cobble ride, Quarry-Roubaix.

Bookshops

Given we hand over space to Magdalen Road's Caper each week to make their most excellent book recommendations, it will be no surprise that Caper, with its thoughtful curation and fantastic events, is at the top of both our list and the Mini Clarions’ favourites. Our resident bibliophile also recommends Gulp Fiction in the Covered Market, and it's hard to disagree – some of the best cocktails in Oxford, with books. Daunt Books in Summertown also gets a recommendation even if it is technically a small chain and not 100% indie. (Demographics suggest to some of us that an artisan bookshop/bakery would do well in Headington, whose book choice is limited to a very good selection of charity shops. Any bookish entrepreneurs listening?)

Booze

Why go to a supermarket when the various locations of the Oxford Wine Company will give you such fantastic service? Wine prices start at £9 a bottle: tax on wine is currently £3.52, which makes it worth thinking about what you're getting on a £6 bottle from the supermarket. They have a really interesting beer and spirit selection, and never mind answering questions or steering you towards a recommendation. And if you buy more than you can fit in your bike basket (we’re not judging), they'll deliver it to your home. Honourable mention to Wild Honey who have a small but perfectly formed wine selection from organic and biodynamic producers that's hidden away. Does this make it health food? We think so.

Cafes

At Rachel's on St. Clements the bánh mì is our newsletter editor's pick-me-up of choice, while the Missing Bean with its freshly roasted single estate coffee has ruined most of us for any other coffee. (Except the founding editor, who drinks instant. Words have been had.) The Missing Bean gets extra points for supplying coffee sacks to local allotmenteers as weed suppressants. Jericho Coffee Traders and Green Routes were also popular. Rincha Thai is an Instagram paradise and an oasis of calm on a very busy Broad Street.

Our resident bibliophile likes to take a book to the Jericho Café for breakfast; he also recommends Tree Artisan Café on Little Clarendon Street, as “the best coffee in town right now”. It was news to half our writers, so we hope we've passed on a gem to someone here by including it. Proof Social gets another entry here too; our proofreader says “Excellent pastry, good coffee and other drinks (love their dirty chai!), located in a café-desert with an inspiring social mission to boot.”

Community-owned

Our writers advocate for several OX postcodes but we keep coming back to Florence Park. Inside the park is Flo's, ‘The Place in the Park’ – a relaxed café opening into the playground, a nursery which took care of at least two Mini Clarions, and a team of NHS midwives. Visiting the refill shop for food, drink, and cleaning products without the plastic makes it easy to be green. The Ultimate Picture Palace has had quite some coverage recently. We love it for its eclectic films and community vibe – we hope it lasts for many years to come.

The Covered Market

This gets a section all of its own. It's the place where the Clarion team expanded from one to four, one booze-fuelled summer evening when none of us quite realised what we were building.

Our horticulturist reckons she grows most things she eats but makes an exception for Cardews and their hazelnut and vanilla flavoured coffee beans, as she's not found a way of growing coffee on her allotment yet. Our photographer loves the Alpha Bar for a super fresh, healthy lunch, as does our proofreader: “The tastiest, healthiest quick lunch you will find in the city centre. And now that there are actually seating areas in the Market and on Broad Street, you can actually enjoy it in comfort. (I remember, years ago, just about finding a tiny ledge to sit on outside the Bodleian, trying to enjoy a bit of midday sun on a lunch break, eating an Alpha Bar takeaway).”

Our planning expert has a standing date involving cheese from the Oxford Cheese Company and wine by the glass from the Market Cellar Door at one of the shared tables in the centre. The newsletter editor likes the very dark hot chocolate at Columbia Coffee Roasters. Covered Market adjacent, the Varsity Club has an unconvincing drinks menu unless you want a cocktail, but the very best views over Oxford if you drink on the roof terrace. It's surprisingly quiet during the day. And for a pop of colour or a gift when visiting, The Garden in the Covered Market will sell you cheery blooms and houseplants.

Food stores

Yes, you can do an entire week's shop on the Cowley Road by bike, and many of us frequently do. If you shop around and know where to go, it can be cheaper than the supermarkets, too. The retailers that park in the LTN stubs, meaning you can't get a bike, wheelchair or buggy past, boil our piss so we won't be recommending them. But here's where we do shop:

Cowley Road's Jing Jing Oriental Store for tofu, oyster mushrooms, vegan ice lollies, and frozen dumplings. Also boiling fowl. (Just ignore the head that's still on the chicken. Or chop it off. Your call.) Go to Erdem Food Centre for vats of hummus and fresh baklava to take as gifts to parties. Magdalen Road's Noor Halal has the best selection of fresh fruit, particularly around the road's sporadic festivals. You know summer is on its way when you see fresh mangoes at Noor.

The two Eastern European shops (Baltic Food on the Cowley Road, and Polski Sklep in Littlemore) are the source of at least one Mini Clarion's frozen pierogi fix, Plus cheap kefir – it was a thing in Eastern European shops long before it was trendy.

But for sweeter food, head back into the city centre. Our team swear by the rhubarb, raspberry & rose cupcake from Barefoot Bakery near St Clement's; chocolate sorbet from Swoon on the High Street, with Knead just opposite (as pricy as it's tasty); and just a skip away in the Covered Market, Wicked Chocolate has three rooms full of beautifully packaged treats.

Markets

We love a market. So much so that we wrote an entire directory of them. But we have a soft spot for Headington Community Market with all its food stalls lining both sides of London Road on a Saturday morning; or South Oxford's on a Sunday, after a swim at Hinksey Pool in the summer.

Meals

The East Oxford crew reckon Green Routes sells us incredible you-wouldn't-know-it's-vegan wondrousness for brunch. It's Oxford Blue for “life-changing topped fries”, Taste Tibet for momos, curries and vibe, Rusty Bicycle for pizza, and Magdalen Arms if you're feeling a bit spendier. In fact, all of these get extra points for the community vibe: you’re likely to meet people you know, maybe share a table, or some impromptu childcare and crayons.

For city centre pub grub, our founding editor swears by the pizza (and in particular the Molto Ben) at the White Rabbit. Head north for French cuisine: on a budget, the crêpes at the Old Bookbinders, or if we're feeling celebratory, Pompette makes us feel like we just arrived in Paris.

For quick eats, our vegan news writer recommends Aleppo's Falafel, Khairo's Halal, and Salsa's del Sol. Gloucester Green Market’s food stalls are the finest concentration of indie take-out in the county, and can even lure a Mini Clarion away from the usual diet of beige kids’ food. Angrid Thai (also at Gloucester Green) is reliable, cheap and tasty. And no round-up of cheap, quick eats would be complete without Najar’s P(a)lace on St Giles.

Pubs

Where do we start? Our (increasingly large) editorial meetings find us fighting for a table in the Old Tom, the Royal Blenheim, or in the summer months, the Medley. The Isis Farmhouse is always in a league of its own; the quality of the food and service ebbs and flows with the changing owners, but nothing can ruin the special location on the river, and the large garden that allows you to enjoy it to the max.

The Wine Cellar on the High has seen many newsletters written on a table in the basement, with excellent coffee and interesting wine, plus bike parking just outside. One of our female writers gives it extra points for being somewhere she feels genuinely comfortable sitting and working alone.

Shops

…aka the quirky stores we haven’t managed to fit under any other category. Our events editor calls Scriptum and Arcadia “two tiny wonderlands of seductive stationery”. The knowledgeable gamers at Thirsty Meeples board game café make perfect recommendations to keep Mini Clarions amused on a rainy afternoon. Truck Store is the city’s peerless vinyl emporium, with its own coffee shop, Mostro.

Our photographer recommends (obviously) Broad Canvas for art supplies. The Harry Potter shops on Cornmarket may or may not be indies, but we're not including them. Instead, head next door to Crafters’ Emporium: handmade crafts from over 100 makers, many local. (Our proofreader calls this the starting point for gift shopping, as well as an occasional treat for herself.) Löfgrens on Magdalen Road has gifts and homewares for hygge and is very much quality, not quantity.

And finally…

It wouldn’t be a Clarion article without a cat reference. Our newsletter editor says:

“Seeing as my colleagues have picked all my favourite places to shop and eat already, and also as my most popular article was College Cats of Oxford, I'm going to hold up the Oxford Cat Clinic as an incredible independent business in Oxford. One of the few truly specialist cat vets in the UK, it sold out to corporate giant Medivet for about 30 seconds before staff bought it back. The staff are incredible, knowledgeable and truly care about your pet. And as there are no other animals in the waiting room, it's a calm environment for a sick cat.”

We use them, or we lose them. Please go shop and spend; tell them we sent you; and tell your friends. It all helps keep the lights on in our excellent indie retailers. Happy shopping!

Further reading

• From Banbury Cake to Oxford Sauce: our look at Oxfordshire food
• Christmas shopping in Oxford
• Our Oxfordshire market directory

About Independent Oxford

The first ever Indie Oxford Day is taking place on Saturday 21 March, organised by Independent Oxford. Annabel Lee, community manager at Independent Oxford, said: “Independent businesses reflect the culture and interest of people in Oxfordshire, and what makes us different. They make our towns, villages and city so much more interesting and fun, giving us places to go, great things to buy and a wonderful sense of place. When you shop indie, you are supporting local businesses, local jobs and the local community.”

Over the last 11 years, Independent Oxford has supported and championed Oxfordshire’s indie business community. Over 180 businesses are members including shops, restaurants, cafés, wellbeing and creative businesses. To find out more, and get involved, visit the Independent Oxford website.