A Grade-II listed shopping gallery in Wantage could be closed off, with a new restaurant or shop opening up in what is now a walkway.

The owner of the Victoria Cross Gallery in the Market Place has been given planning permission to convert it into one large retail area or two smaller ones.

If the plan goes ahead, shoppers will no longer be able to get to Church Street from the Market Place, although the passageway next door will stay open.

Permission was also granted to create one two- and four one-bedroom flats above the shops, overlooking the town centre on one side and Church Street on the other.

The building, originally the Wantage Corn Exchange, was converted into an art gallery in the late 19th century when Lord Wantage donated to the town a collection of paintings by Claudier Desanges of people who had won the Victoria Cross.

If the shop is built, the owner, Helen Sopher, will be obliged to create disabled access to the gallery from the Market Place entrance for the first time.

Vale of White Horse District Council gave permission for the development on April 8.