THE £4.5m revamp of Abingdon’s shopping precinct will be finished on Friday, the developer has promised.

And the Abbey centre’s owner, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, said it was in talks with retailers to occupy new shops and hoped to make an announcement in the new year.

Abingdon News Plus newsagent owner Peter Wiblin said that his takings over the last eight months since work started had dropped by about 20 per cent.

He said Scottish Widows should have given all the shops affected a reduction in rent, in line with the 10 per cent reduction in business rates granted by Vale of White District Council during the construction period.

Work on renovating the 1960s Bury Street precinct began in April.

Since then, the developer NewRiver has removed canopies and benches and created two new two-storey shops out of five of the old smaller units. Neither has yet been filled.

The Bookstore owner Ian Collett said he had seen a 50 per cent drop in business in August.

He said his takings had picked up, but he was still down compared to last year.

Phases two and three of the project are due to begin next year. They will see the surgery and library behind the precinct replaced with a supermarket.