MYSTERY surrounds the future of a distribution centre which closed last month.

A total of 115 staff lost their jobs following the closure of the Co-op chilled distribution centre on the Osney Mead industrial estate, West Oxford.

Bosses at the Midcounties Co-operative are remaining tight-lipped about what is happening to the site, which was closed due to concerns over flooding and the lack of expansion possibilities.

But property experts say those reasons may make it unattractive to potential future occupiers.

Richard Venables, partner at Kidlington commercial property agents VSL, said: “It is an old facility.

“If someone required a new chilled distribution centre they would want it to be accessible from the ring road and not in the middle of Oxford.”

Last November, Osney Mead was under several inches of water for a week, hampering access for businesses on the estate.

It was also badly affected by the floods of 2007.

The closure was announced in February, with Midcounties Co-operative’s chief executive Ben Reid saying the plans were as a result of growth in the number of stores which had sparked a review of the company’s logistics operation.

Other distribution centres in the Co-operative group are being considered as replacements for the Oxford site.