Independent shops in Oxford are fighting back over claims the city is turning into a clone town.

They want to put Oxford back on the map as a unique shopping destination that offers more than high street chain stores.

City centre management company OX1 urged shoppers to seek out the smaller independent traders that are off the main shopping areas of Cornmarket Street and Queen Street.

OX1's chief executive Bill McCardle said: "The independent sector is going to fight back and let people know Oxford is a lively place for people looking for something different.

"It's about time we started to promote the independent shops here in Oxford."

His comments came just a week after a report by the New Economics Foundation described Oxford as a "border" clone town on the verge of losing its character.

But Mr McCardle said there was a vibrant independent shopping sector in Oxford providing everything from jewellery to chocolate and fashion.

OX1 launched the Love Oxford campaign six weeks ago. This week it released a series of specially commissioned pictures celebrating Oxford's independent traders.

A shopping guide to Oxford, which lists shops by sector and includes a map, will be available by the end of July.

Mr McCardle said Love Oxford was the first positive promotional campaign the city had seen.

He said: "Oxford has lots of little shops but it has never been good at telling people about them.

"We have been hiding our light under a bushell."

He rejected claims that Oxford was losing its identity.

He said: "The people who wrote that report could only have walked along Cornmarket and Queen Street and not any further."

The owner of Avid Records, said earlier this week his business may be forced to close after Oxford City Council increased his rent by 50 per cent, welcomed the campaign -- but said it might not be enough to save his shop.

Paul Rouillier said: "Independent shops are what makes Oxford.

"It sounds like the campaign is doing as much as it can, but it might be too late in my particular case."

The QI bookshop in Turl Street, which opened last September, is an example of an independent shop that offers something different to the mainstream.

Its books are arranged around the circular shop in unfamiliar categories such as revenge, greed and suburbia.

Stockmistress Claudia Fitz- herbert said: "If you can't have a shop like this in Oxford, where can you have it?"