Broad Street, Oxford

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View of the front of Balliol College in Broad Street.

Historical view of Broad Street looking east towards (left to right) the Clarendon Building, and the Sheldonian Theatre and the Old Ashmolean Building.

The Museum of the History of Science, in the Old Ashmolean Building, on the south side of Broad Street.

Blackwell's bookshop on the north side of Broad Street, opposite the Museum of the History of Science.

The first Pro-Test march on 25 February 2006 in Broad Street.

Broad Street is a wide street in Oxford, England. It is famous for its bookshops, including the original Blackwell's bookshop at number 50. Locally the street is traditionally known as The Broad.

The street was the site where the protestant Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley (16 October, 1555), and later Thomas Cranmer (21 March 1556), were burnt at the stake just outside the then city walls. A cross in the road opposite Balliol College marks the location. Not far away in St Giles', the events are commemorated with a Victorian stone monument, the Martyrs' Memorial.

Also in this street are Trinity College, Exeter College (front entrance in the adjoining Turl Street), the Museum of the History of Science (the original location of the Ashmolean Museum), the Clarendon Building, the Sheldonian Theatre and the new Bodleian Library building (entrance in Parks Road).

The Victorian photographer Henry Taunt had his studio in Broad Street. The academic and physician Henry Acland lived in the street at number 40 on the site of the new Bodleian building.

The first Oxfam charity shop together with its office were established by Cecil Jackson-Cole (1901–1979) at 17 Broad Street in 1947. There is still an Oxfam shop here and a blue plaque has been placed on the outside wall of the building.

To the west, the street continues as George Street, with Magdalen Street to the north and Cornmarket Street to the south. To the east, the street continues as Holywell Street, with Parks Road to the north and Catte Street to the south. The King's Arms, a popular public house frequented by Oxford University students, is on the north-east corner of the junction and the Indian Institute (now the History Faculty of the University), designed by Basil Champneys, is on the south-east corner.