Oasis was certainly the place to be seen in the seventies. Oddly enough I was in there just last week. It is, apart from the change in fashion, exactly the same as it was when I was 15/16 years old in the mid seventies. The odd smell was probablypatchouli oil...the place reeked of it, I never personally saw any wacky baccy smokers behind the fixtures! Of course, there may have been!
Even now, whenever I smell patchouli, I am back there! It was, and still is, a labyrinth.
Yes, the cheesecloth shirts, the jewellery, a great hairdresser and t shirt shops aplenty. (With your own message.) And the SHOES!
I visited again to buy my 12 year old son a pair of Converse trainers IN THE VERY SAME shop, Cloggs, where I bought my first pair of platform boots with my first wage packet in 1974! (They were gorgeous boots, only consigned to the dustbin when the heel fell off whilst alighting from a no.50 bus at the Maypole, much later!)
Speaking to the nice guy (one of the original staff?) that was running the shop, it seems it was still in exactly the same pitch in the market then as now. It sent a shudder through my spine. Almost like confronting your own ghost from the past! They will knock it down in the next few years due to redevelopment in the Martineau Square area. Re-visit whilst you still can. A place of great originality, it will re open, but not sure where?
Brummy hugs to all....