As shoppers count down to Christmas Oxford's Covered Market is ringing the changes with a whole host of new businesses.

Landlords the city council decided to divide up existing empty units to attract fresh faces and the policy has worked so far.

Earlier this year Souvlaki Brothers opened a new Greek street food cafe and now eight new shops are opening in the run-up to Christmas.

The Oxford Soap Company, a local independent company offering hand-made cosmetics opened on Tuesday.

READ MORE - Oxford Soap Company launch 

The others are:

•Fedele of Oxford, an Oxford-based business opening its first store and offering high-quality leather goods, will be opening in the next two weeks

•The Garden has opened a pop-up store in the former Hedges Butchers’ unit, selling Christmas trees, wreathes, garlands, and decorations. The shop will be open until Christmas

•Wicked Chocolate opened a pop-up store in part of the former Macsamillion, selling artisan chocolate and Christmas gifts. The shop will be open until Christmas

•A pop-up store selling Christmas biscuits, gingerbread, stollen and panettone will open in the remaining part of the former Macsamillion unit in mid-November. The shop will be open until Christmas

•Cardews of Oxford opened a pop-up store in the former Foot Foundation unit, selling kitchenware and Christmas gifts, including teas and coffees. The shop will be open until mid-January

•Bonner’s Fruit and Vegetables will expand into the former newsagent’s unit between mid-November and Christmas, selling nuts and Christmas produce

•Independent Oxford, an organisation that celebrates independent businesses in Oxford, will also open a store, in the former Dragon’s Den unit, from mid-November until Christmas.

The unit will be filled with a collection of independent and local businesses that will be selling a wide range of Christmas gifts.

Panny Skrivanos of Souvlaki Brothers is hoping the new businesses will boost footfall in the market in the run-up to Christmas.

He said: "As young boys we would travel to Greece to see our family all the time, and Souvlaki was the first thing we were eating when we got off the plane and the last thing we were eating as we got on the plane to come back.

“But we couldn’t find authentic Souvlaki when we came back to the UK. The main reason for opening it was so that we could get them ourselves - selling them is a nice by-product of that.”

Mr Skrivanos added: "Come and support your market because it’s a great place. Everybody here has really interesting businesses and is working hard to do something different, so if you’re looking for a shopping experience that’s a bit different and diverse, this is the place to go.”