People from the Asian sub-continent in England

In 1937 an Indian law student, having established the first Indian-owned restaurant in London, moved to Oxford and opened a second, the Taj Mahal in Turl Street (which still continues today although under different management). At that time there were other Asians who had been door-to-door pedlars in south Wales, Glasgow and Newcastle, and had come to Oxford to try the same occupation. But it was not until the mid 1950s, when there was an opening for poorly paid, unskilled and semi-skilled labourers in Oxford, that Asians moved into Oxford in any significant numbers.

Recruiting at this time was a private bus company, the City of Oxford Motor Services, which in 1955 had failed to attract local labour which had moved to better-paid jobs, particularly those offered by the car industry in Cowley, Morris Motors, later British Leyland. Also recruiting were British Rail, hospitals, buildings firms and other small industries, because of the high wages offered by the car industry. The gap left was one which only black and Asian workers were prepared to fill. One of the smaller industries was the Boffin Bakery in Osney, which in 1960 was so impressed by a Bengali man's hard work that they began to employ many more Asians. Soon 80% of the work force was Pakistani or Bangladeshi, and this remained so until the bakery closed in 1979.

As work opportunities increased, and with the encouraging Race Relations Act of 1955, after which West Indians and Asians were employed at British Leyland, the Asian community gradually shifted from Jericho and the Botley Road, to East Oxford.

The first Indian restaurant to open in the Cowley Road in 1962, the Himalaya, prospered for twenty years and was especially appreciated by students of Magdalen College who could eat a three-course meal there for the price of a pork pie and a pint of beer. The early 1960s saw the beginning of Indian retailing, with grocers and a fabric shop opening in Cowley, the former also catering for West Indians. In 1967 and 1968 Indian-owned ethnic emporia opened in the High Street and Little Clarendon Street. Oriental Crafts (the latter) advertised exotic caftans, Batik prints, filigree jewellery and hand-woven bedspreads. Although these shops, opened early in the settlement process, were situated in up-market shopping locations rather than in the areas of Indian settlement, being directed at the indigenous rather than the Asian population.

Today in Cowley there are many grocers, general stores and restaurants aimed both at an ethnic clientele and at the indigenous population, just as the restaurants have always been.