OXFORD’S only remaining independent funeral director has been sold to a national company.

S & R Childs Funeral Services has bases in Headington, Cowley, Kidlington and Botley.

It has now been sold to Dignity, Britain’s largest funeral services provider, which owns more than 600 outlets nationwide.

Stuart Cox, communications manager for Dignity, said the company would continue to operate all four branches in the same way.

He said: “The four branches will continue to trade as S & R and continue to maintain the high level of service their clients have come to expect.

“I believe the former proprietor will continue to work in a consultancy role and all the staff will keep their jobs.”

He was keen to stress the change of hands was not a takeover.

He said: “The proprietor of S & R Childs will have approached us and made us aware she wanted to sell her business. Negotiations will then have taken place and the sale will have been agreed.”

He added: “This wasn’t a takeover, we bought the company.”