Littlewoods was no longer one of the major players on the Oxford shopping scene.

It had given up its prime site in Cornmarket Street for a corner site in the Clarendon Centre.

But its sudden departure will come as a shock to staff and hundreds of shoppers who have bought clothes there or relaxed in the restaurant.

More importantly, it will also serve, as Keith Slater, chairman of Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce, rightly says, as a wake-up call for Oxford.

Despite many improvements to the city centre in recent years, we still lag well behind many rival shopping centres.

The redevelopment and expansion of the Westgate Centre, which has suffered delay, that eternal Oxford malaise, cannot come soon enough if we are not to lose further ground.