The mile-long Cowley Road, which runs south-east from Oxford’s Magdalene Bridge, divides opinion. “I love its fascinating multicultural shops, facilities and restaurants,” says one Oxford resident. But another maintains: “Cowley Road is full of pseudo-bohemian ex-public school students. The road’s only saving grace is that it keeps them in one place, so I can avoid them and the muggers can find them.”

Oxford brims with history – founded by King Alfred, burnt by Vikings, university dating from 1167 and so on – yet Cowley Road has been shaped by waves of immigrants only recently. Until the mid-19th century it was just a track, most notable for its leper hospital (opposite where the former bingo hall now stands).