DEMOLITION began for the overhaul of the Westgate Shopping Centre yesterday, kicking off its £440m redevelopment.

Over the next two years, the scheme will add 100 new shops, a five-screen cinema and 25 cafes and restaurants to the site.

Yesterday developer Westgate Oxford Alliance – made up of Land Securities and The Crown Estate – announced more shops set to join a line-up that already includes John Lewis, Next, Primark, Michael Kors and Curzon Cinemas.

It is hoped the overhaul will boost Oxford’s shopping credentials to rival Reading and Milton Keynes when it is completed in autumn 2017.

And developers are boasting space in the city is the most sought-after in the country.

The redevelopment will also see the the existing mall off Bonn Square refurbished and a new underground multistorey car park created to replace the old one.

Yesterday the Westgate Oxford Alliance said it had already pre-let 28 per cent of new shops and restaurants in the centre.

Land Securities chief executive Robert Noel said: “We’ve taken a significant step towards creating our vision for a world-class retail and leisure destination in Oxford, having worked hard with our customers and the community to shape the right scheme.

“Alongside our growing list of customers, we are committed to creating a new Westgate Oxford which not only complements the city’s beauty and heritage status but also enhances its global reputation as a great place to spend time.”

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Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said his authority last week signed off on a final agreement to allow redevelopment to begin.

The city council gave planning permission for the scheme in November and is the freehold owner of the site.

Mr Price said: “This is an exciting first step for us and it will be good to see this project finally get up to full pace.

“We certainly hope that the Westgate redevelopment will give us a huge advantage when attracting people to the city.”

The latest national chains confirmed included H&M, Superdry, Schuh and Goldsmiths, which all already have premises in Oxford.

The stores currently in the centre will not close during the work.

Oxfordshire Town Chamber Network director Keith Slater, a retail consultant, said the take-up of shops so far was “encouraging” and could lead to rents in the city centre falling. He said: “This redevelopment is likely to catapult Oxford ahead of a lot of other city centres and will let it compete with places like Reading, Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

“And for this stage in the development – with two-anda-half years still to go before opening – it is certainly encouraging to see 28 per cent of shop units are already let.

“There has been a pent-up demand for retail space in Oxford for some time and space has also been very expensive.

We may now find several shops in the city relocating to Westgate.

“There should also be an effect on rents because of that and some tenants will even be well-placed to renegotiate better deals with landlords.

“It will also give other shops new opportunities to move to the centre.”

H&M currently has a premises in the Clarendon Centre.

A spokeswoman for the firm declined to comment on whether it would close that shop when it opened another in the revamped Westgate.

No-one at the Clarendon Centre was available for comment.

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