OXFORD’S Clarendon Centre has been given a boost after popular discount clothing store TK Maxx announced it was moving in.

The news comes a day after it emerged that women’s fashion chain Zara will be leaving the shopping complex for a unit in the nearby Westgate Centre later this year.

TK Maxx already has a store at Templars shopping park in Cowley selling clothes and homeware.

But the new outlet in the city centre will be more high-profile and its arrival will be a boost for the Clarendon Centre, also home to fashion chain H&M.

Retail expert Keith Slater said: “This is good news following Zara’s announcement that it will relocate.

“TK Maxx has started to move into more city centres as well as retail parks.

“I expect the footfall in the Clarendon Centre store will be higher than it is in Cowley.

“TK Maxx has a city centre store in one of the arcades in Cheltenham which is always very busy.”

Owners at the Clarendon Centre say the new TK Maxx is scheduled to open in spring next year.

As well as Zara, a number of other retailers have chosen to leave the city centre for the Westgate.

These include Superdrug in Market Street and Moss Bros in Cornmarket Street, which are now both recruiting staff for new stores at Westgate, prompting concerns about empty shop units.

A spokesman for the Clarendon Centre said the new 17,500 sq ft TK Maxx store will be in the ‘heart of the centre’ and will occupy three storeys.

Improvement work will be completed by the landlord and is expected to start in September before TK Maxx moves in. Their shop will be fitted out with the aim of opening early in 2019.

Adam Smith, executive director of Lothbury Investment Management, who manages the centre, said: “It is great news that a retailer of the calibre of TK Maxx has chosen the Clarendon Centre.

“They are a major anchor tenant and a proven footfall generator, which is great news for shoppers and our other tenants.

“The market remains tough for all retailers but this letting is a strong endorsement of the Clarendon Centre and we look forward to welcoming more new stores over the coming months.”

It is not yet known how many staff will work at the new store or if it will occupying space now used by Zara.

Nine million shoppers have visited Westgate in the past six months, a higher than expected figure. Managers said before it opened the centre could attract 15 million shoppers a year. Zara is expected to leave the Clarendon Centre this winter.