Flick through the gallery above to see the Westgate building project, all the way from the old centre to opening day. 

THE number of shoppers visiting the Westgate Centre in the first six months - nine million - has exceeded managers’ expectations.

Centre managers celebrated the announcement by revealing women’s clothing chain Zara is to open a new store later this year.

Brendan Hattam, general manager at Westgate Oxford, said: “We’ve had such fantastic support from Oxford residents and visitors from further afield since opening our doors.”

The £440m centre, featuring a John Lewis department store, more than 100 new shops and a rooftop terrace for restaurants, opened on October 24 - see here for opening day recap.

Before it opened centre development manager Sara Fuge said up to15 million shoppers a year were expected. If the current rate of visits is equalled in the next six months the centre will attract 18 million shoppers in its first year.

Mr Hattam added: “Footfall records have already exceeded expectations with a staggering nine million people coming to see us in just six months.

"These are hugely encouraging figures for the whole of Oxford and we’re immensely proud of the impact Westgate has played in helping the city centre become a thriving retail and leisure destination.”

Westgate Oxford will celebrate with a number of events, including the launch of Victors restaurant on the rooftop terrace on Friday.

However, retail expert Keith Slater has claimed the centre is not doing as well as many would have thought.

He told the BBC: "It's a little disppointing.

"If you take the footflow down Cornmarket Street in the seven weeks before the Westgate openend there were 470,000 a week, that's 12 million over six months so you would expect the Westgate would do a bit better than nine million."

Westgate Centre bosses, however, have said it is still very early days and visitor numbers are actually ahead of where they expected to be.