chippingnortonjournal

Westgate deal signed with John Lewis

JOHN Lewis has signed an agreement to deliver a new department store in a redeveloped Westgate Centre, (OXFORD not Chippy) it has been announced today.  The store extending over three floors will create 500 new jobs, with an entrance located in the basement of the Westgate Centre’s new car park. The new flexible format department store in Oxford will have a target opening date of 2017 and will highlight fashion, home and consumer electronics' concepts in a contemporary setting. The news comes as the redevelopment of the Westgate Centre in Oxford took a major step forward, with a crucial legal agreement reached between the Westgate Alliance and Oxford City Council.

Andy Street, managing director, John Lewis, said: “Oxford has long been a sought after location for us and we’re delighted to be able to expand our reach to customers across the region for the first time, providing them with more convenient access to our inspiring products and great service. We’re looking forward to becoming part of the local community.”
Richard Akers, of the Westgate Oxford Alliance, said: “We are delighted that John Lewis is anchoring our new development adjoining the Westgate Centre, which we own jointly with the Crown Estate. This is an exciting project and this enables us to press ahead with a planning application for the scheme, which will confirm Oxford city centre as one of the leading retail and leisure destinations in the UK.”

Meanwhile as reported in a previous story WITNEY Mayor Harry Eaglestone has welcomed plans to build a new Morrisons store in the town centre. He said: “It is good news because Morrisons has always been very competitive with its prices. “When you read about shops that are empty in other towns and high streets, it just shows that Witney is doing very well in comparison.” also MOVES to extend Banbury’s Castle Quay shopping centre have been welcomed by business leaders.
Centre owner Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) is developing plans for a hotel, cinema, shops, bars and restaurants.
It would extend the centre’s footprint by 25 per cent, from 600,000sq ft to 754,000sq ft and create up to 500 new full-time and 1,000 part-time roles.
It is being seen as a attempt by the firm to shore up the town centre’s offering after a major retail park plan was approved. Centre fund manager Cameron Murray said the plan “reaffirms SWIP’s commitment to Castle Quay and maintaining Banbury’s town centre offering”.
He said: “We are delighted to confirm we are in the early stages of developing a proposal to extend Castle Quay shopping centre.

There you are it's all going on around us, new shops in our nearest towns to entice us away from Chippy, Westgate in OXFORD, the Castle Centre in BANBURY and a new supermarket in WITNEY, meanwhile back in La,la Land the objection to Sainsbury's has pushed Chippy further back into the dark ages, there is still NO sign of the Co-op development going ahead unless you count new tills as development. now the Co-operative as a whole is seen as a basket case and has credit rating is on a par with Greece, highly unlikely.  I hope Experience Chipping Norton will see they have to entice more villagers into town by selling what the customers want rather than what they want them to buy. When will the town and  retailers wake up and realise it's the big names and big shops attract customers not little shops, the little shops then benefit by the extra shoppers generated.