A MAJOR retail boost for Oxford city centre is in the pipeline as work on the expansion of the Clarendon Centre nears an end.

Builders have almost finished working on the £6m development, which will see a three-storey, 3,188 square metre building added on to the shopping centre.

A former Currys Digital shop has been demolished to make way for a large branch of fashion retailer H&M.

The refurbishment means the centre is growing in size by 10 per cent. As part of the revamp, Currys Digital and PC World have moved across the centre to the former River Island store.

Ginny Fellows, manager of the Clarendon Centre, said work would be completed in the “next week or so” and then the Swedish company will be fitting out the H&M store until February.

She said: “This is not just a good thing for the shopping centre but for the whole city. The footfall it is going to bring into Oxford is going to be huge.

“People travel far and wide for a shop like this.

“The work has gone really well and we are happy with the sense of space in the centre.”

She added that the store’s size is on a similar scale to the chain’s Oxford Street branch.

Graham Jones, of traders group ROX, said: “It is very good news that it is going to be opening soon. The addition of H&M should draw a lot of people into Oxford.

“Oxford has always had businesses like H&M looking for the appropriate premises and it is a desirable place to have a retail operation. This is good news for the city.”

A planning application has been submitted to the redevelopment of the Westgate Centre.