ABINGDON has welcomed the arrival of a chain store after learning that it will stock children's clothes.

Peacocks is set to move into the former Co-op store in Abingdon's Bury Street.

It will be the first town centre retailer in seven years to sell clothes for older children.

The fashion chain told the Abingdon Herald yesterday that it will open later this month with a children's department.

The company also confirmed there will be an Edinburgh Woollen Mill opening in the same unit.

Ian Collett of The Bookstore in Bury Street said: "I didn't initially think it was what I was hoping for, however it will sell children's clothes which is a really good thing.

"It's a big empty unit that needs filling and needs to cater for both ladies and gentlemen.

"We all wanted a top-end destination store but because of where it is situated I'm not sure we ever would have got it.

"The problem is we have got nowhere to put one."

Mr Collett said when Superdrug moved across the street it took up the only shop large enough to accommodate a big chain, and was concerned that its old unit opposite Peacocks will struggle to find interest because it has little frontage.

The last chain store that sold children's clothes in the town centre was Adams which shut in 2009, and there is little currently available for families aside from The Nursery Shop in Stert Street which sells clothes for babies and toddlers.

Abingdon Business Improvement District (BID) leader Julie Downing said the addition of Peacocks was 'absolutely a positive thing'.

She said: "It's good to have something in there but it's also a rise in children's clothes, providing a service we haven't actually got. It's filling a space and hopefully making it more attractive."

Peacocks has begun work at the empty store which has sat neglected since the Co-op closed last summer.

Mrs Downing agreed that the area 'needs a huge refurbishment' and said Vale of White Horse District Council was still 'very much in talks' to update The Charter, which was set for a £50m revamp by owner Aberdeen Asset Management until it pulled out of its agreement with the council earlier this year.

She said she expected reactions would vary in the town to the news that Peacocks is moving in, adding: "Some people wanted something more upmarket. But anything is better than nothing and it's not like anything that's already here. It's going to add to business, not take away. It's a larger chain which is positive and will maybe bring other retailers in."

The shop openings will create 13 to 15 new jobs in the town.