Oxford’s Westgate Shopping Centre will partly shut at the end of January and fully close in Spring, bar Sainsbury’s and Oxford Central Library, as its £440 million renovation continues.
Developers Westgate Oxford Alliance confirmed the timescale last night as Primark revealed nearly 200 jobs at its Oxford store are in doubt ahead of its closure in February.
The work is paving the way for a revamped and extended shopping centre to open in October 2017 with a flagship John Lewis store and a new Primark.
But in the meantime its 14 remaining shops will close down.
Westgate’s biggest shop, Primark, employs 193 staff.
The Dublin-based clothes retailer told the Guardian employees will be offered the chance to apply for 201 roles at its Banbury store, which is due to open next month.
Westgate Oxford Alliance’s development manager Sara Fuge said: “As the existing Westgate centre is now more than 40 years old, its redevelopment needs to involve the complete transformation, including the partial demolition of the existing centre.
“The southern part of the existing centre will be demolished, with the remainder of the centre being completely refurbished as part of the centre’s transformation.
“In order for these refurbishment works to continue, the existing centre will need to close to the public in Spring 2016. The closure of the centre will happen gradually to allow as much of the centre, and the shops within it, to stay open for as long as possible.”
A spokesperson for Primark said: “Whilst Primark has endeavoured to find a temporary home in the interim, this has not been possible and Primark will vacate the current store in February 2016.”
The new shopping centre will be 800,000 square feet – the size of about ten football pitches, with about 3,400 retail jobs.
Martin Walker, head of development at tourism promotion company Experience Oxfordshire, said: “If you look at the long term benefits of this new centre, it far outweighs the short term pains of this development.
“Visitors to the city used to come to the old Westgate car park as their first look at the city, which was a bit of an eyesore, so hopefully this will be a much improved welcome banner.”
A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said they had managed to work with developers to keep their store open thoughout the renovations.
Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said: “The demolition on the south side will start around the end of January or early February next year and Primark is set to close.
“The new centre will be a real transformation for shopping in central Oxford and is an extremely exciting project that will be of huge benefit to residents.”
More than 100 new shops and 25 restaurants – including a Curzon Cinema – will be part of the new development in Oxpens Road.
A two-storey underground car park with between 900 and 1,100 spaces is in the process of being built, with the previous car park having been demolished in February this year.
Cllr Price added: “We’re pleased with the progress of as it’s moving along quickly in keeping with schedule.”
