WHERE in Oxford can you find restaurants from around the world, sex shops and flotation tanks?

The answer is Cowley Road and, after discovering these attractions on his own doorstep, art publisher James Attlee decided to write a book about East Oxford's liveliest street.

Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey is out next month and Mr Attlee, 50, is hoping it will encourage more people to seek out Cowley Road's cultural diversity.

The father-of-five said he was on holiday with his family in Majorca when he realised he should write the book.

He said: "I love Cowley Road because it is such an accepting place to all kinds of different people.

"I realised that the people who live here have some amazing stories to tell, and that you can go on an amazing journey in your own neighbourhood.

"Oxford over the years has sent so many people out to other cultures, and meanwhile people from all over the world have come to stay with us. I thought it would be fascinating to hear about their journeys.

"I used weekends, holidays and days when I worked at home to write the book and I also wrote some of it on the train when I was commuting to London."

Mr Attlee, who lives off Cowley Road, said he hoped the book would encourage people to venture over Magdalen Bridge to discover part of the city not normally portrayed on picture postcards.

He added: "One of the major themes is that people should appreciate what is there before it goes.

"If people don't use these individual local businesses then they will be gone, and Cowley Road will begin to look like any other high street.

"If people do all their shopping online or in supermarkets they will miss out on the kind of personal encounters that make Cowley Road special.

"Writers have been wandering around cities for years and writing about them but once you do it you inevitably become involved in the political debate about a city's dynamic.

"My book is a personal response to Cowley Road - it's a celebration of it, rather like the Cowley Road carnival.

"Some people will read the book and say 'that's not my Cowley Road' but they can make their own journey."

Mr Attlee said he had been commuting to London for the past seven years and would love to be able to cycle to work instead of to Oxford Railway Station.

"Unfortunately I work in a specialist field in publishing, which takes me away from where I live," he added. "I'm delighted with the book and I hope it encourages people from Oxford and beyond to visit Cowley Road."

Isolarion is published by University of Chicago Press, price £12. Mr Attlee will be appearing at the Oxford Literary Festival on March 23, at 7.30pm at Blackwell's Bookshop in Broad Street and on March 28 at 7.30pm at the QI Bookshop in Turl Street.