TV adverts for the new Westgate Centre featuring a ‘contemporary’ Alice in Wonderland have been beamed into people’s living rooms as its opening edges closer.

Landsec and The Crown Estate - behind the £440m centre - have hired a creative agency to push a marketing campaign on radio and TV ahead of Tuesday’s launch.

The advert features a modern ‘Alice’ gallivanting around Oxford, punting through the streets and opening the Radcliffe Camera to a flock of launching lipsticks.

Less than half of the 125 units will open on Tuesday and the centre’s managers admitted work may continue behind the scenes to complete the project.

The marketing campaign, designed by Snap LDN, also encourages visitors to use the city’s Park and Ride sites - with one promotional poster claiming the Park and Rides have been ‘transformed’.

Senior consumer experience manager at Landsec, Joanna Moralee, said: “With its mixture of retail and leisure experiences, Westgate will transcend people’s expectations of a typical shopping centre.

“Snap have communicated the feeling that there will always be something new to discover at Westgate, making it the perfect day out in Oxford.”

The modern Alice - a nod to Lewis Carroll’s Oxford connection - is punted through some of the city’s historic streets before flying up into the sky on a giant owl.

At the start of the advert the giant Alice is seen sleeping among Oxford’s buildings before stepping into Radcliffe Square and lifting the lid off Radcliffe Camera.

She reveals a swarm of leaping lipsticks before shrinking and falling into a cup of tea and then being punted through the city in another novel transport idea.

Managing partner at the creative agency, Snap LDN, Oliver Lewis-Barclay, said: “To ensure Westgate is seen as a worthy addition to such an iconic, dynamic city, we had to conjure the spirit of the brand rather than its rational allure.

“That’s why nowhere in the campaign are there any shops, and no one’s carrying any shopping bags.”

There may be not shops but that doesn’t stop out Alice from coming across a flower which blossoms to reveal a fancy pair of shoes.

The excitable Alice then enters through a door overlooking the dreaming spires, presumably signifying the new Westgate Centre.

The fictional character may have cruised around the city on her way to the Westgate but shoppers may not experience such ease on Tuesday.

Last week Westgate Alliance, Oxfordshire County Council and the bus companies revealed its plan to encourage visitors to ditch their cars and use the Park and Ride system.

It includes new signs, colour coded buses and stops, a single ticket to park and take the bus and even sofas on double deckers.