Staff at a long-serving butcher at the Covered Market have announced their closing date.
Last week, Michael Feller & Daughter butchers revealed it would be closing after serving customers for more than 40 years.
The city council, landlords of the historic market, said the family-run business has decided to exercise a break clause in their lease to give the owners a rest and to focus on a lifestyle change.
READ AGAIN: Butcher's shop at Covered Market is to close
The Feller family has been operating in the market since 1979 and is well-known for their exceptionally high-quality meat and game.
Michael Feller, who opened the shop in 1979, had been working as a butcher since the age of 14.
The council said earlier that a closing date was still to be determined but was likely to be before May.
But a member of staff said: "The last day of trading will be March 31. We hope our customers will continue to support us until then."
The departure follows the closure of Hedges butchers and John Lindsey in 2018 and leaves only David John remaining.
James Torjussen, who owns David John butchers, said: "We will be very sorry to see Feller's go after all this time.
"They are friends of mine - we go out together and help each other out.
"They specialise in organic meat while we are a traditional butcher - it's a loss and it leaves an empty unit."
David John has been trading in the Covered Market for about 30 years.
Mr Torjussen said he thought the council would find it difficult to find another butcher to replace Feller.
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Company director of M Feller and Daughter Butchers, Mitzi Feller, said earlier: "After over 40 years, Feller’s family-run business has come to a sad decision to close our shop in the Covered Market.
“However, it is not viable for us to continue in this economic climate. The market has changed and people are leading rather different lives.
“I would like to thank our team for their loyalty and support; it has been a privilege to work with them.
“Thank you to our customers who have supported us over the years, you will be missed by us all.”
Mitzi is the second generation of the Feller family to operate the business.
City council leader Susan Brown, a customer at Feller's for 30 years, said the council was actively seeking another butcher.
Haymans fishmongers moved out of the market in 2017 and is based at the Osney Mead industrial estate.
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Pershore Seafoods arrived at the market in 2019.
The market was designed by John Gwynne as a replacement for butcher's stalls that needed to be removed from the streets to make space for traffic after The Oxford Mileways Act 1771 was passed.
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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF
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