Hi Geoff,
In the 1872-3 Royal Directory there is an in-order listing of the buildings in Albion Street and this shows between North Street and Albion Walk (then called America Passage) the Oxford Ale Store landlord William Spurrell. This is the only listing for it I have seen. However, in the 1848 Edwards Directory listed under “Ale & Porter Merchants and Agents” there is a W.H. Brind recorded with an Albion Street address. He can only recently have moved to Albion Street, because in the 1847 Hunt & Co. Directory he is listed under “Ale & Porter Merchants and Agents” with a Hewlett’s Road address (as Hewlett Road was then). There are also several people with an Albion Street address listed under “Beer Retailers” in the 1847 Hunt & Co. Directory and the 1848 and 1850 – 1852 Edwards. It isn’t always easy to connect them to particular pubs.
The Oxford Ale Store didn’t last long after 1872 though; in the 1876 Royal Directory it has been replaced by the Albion Refreshment-Rooms run by Mrs. Fanny Thornton. Neither the Oxford Ale Store nor the Albion Refreshment-Rooms had a street number in the listings quoted, but both came after 108 and were the final listings on the south side of Albion Street before North Street.
There is a little anomaly though – in the 1878 Royal Directory listing for Albion Street, the Albion Refreshment Rooms are listed at no. 108 (to the immediate east of Albion Walk / America Passage). I think it might actually have moved because of road widening being undertaken of North Street / Greyhound Lane.
In the 1880-1 Post Office Directory the Albion Refreshment Rooms are still at 108 Albion Street and James Hayward was the landlord. Then, by the 1883-4 Post Office Directory, the Albion Refreshment Rooms appear to have expanded, being numbered 107 & 108 Albion Street (by which time the Central Gas Offices, which had been built at the junction with North Street – where the back of Boots is now – had been built and opened as well.
Ny the time of the 1890-1 Post Office Directory, the Albion Refreshment Rooms are only listed at 108 Albion Street again – and Mrs. Hayward is landlady. And that is pretty much how things seem to continue through to 1907 when it is no longer listed.
In the 1908 Annuaire though, the Criterion Restaurant is recorded at 108 Albion Street (proprietor Mr. F. Schobel), which from 1926 – 1939 in Kelly’s Directories becomes the Criterion Temperance Hotel. After 1939 it isn’t listed, so presumably closed.
Cheers,
Alan Jones