Cowley Road is the antidote to dreaming-spires Oxford — a long, busy, multicultural street running east from the city centre through the Cowley district, lined with independent restaurants, charity shops, music venues, and Polish delicatessens. It is where Oxford's students actually hang out when they're not in the university precinct, and where many of the city's immigrant communities have established themselves.
The strip from the Plain roundabout east to the Ring Road offers Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Indian, and Bangladeshi restaurants alongside a good independent music venue (the Bullingdon, now the O2 Academy), a second-hand record shop, and a launderette that doubles as a bar. The Oxford Community and Student Food Bank is based here. Cowley Road hosts an annual street festival each summer — the Cowley Road Carnival — which is genuinely popular and brings out the full diversity of the east side of the city.