New retailers are coming to Cowley as the area's shopping centre expands.

One of the shops is at Templars Retail Park, formerly the John Allen Centre, where sportswear retailer JJB Sports has taken the space occupied by Debenham's last year during the renovation of its city centre store.

Over the road at Templars Square, developers Hemingway have started building two new stores on the site of the former residents' car park at Banjo Road, which has been moved. Clothes shop Peacocks, which already has a store in Headington, is to take 7,800 sq ft at Mall level on Templars Square's Poundway. Another 9,000 sq ft is now available there.

Peacocks sells discount clothing, a similar market to Matalan, which is nearby at Templars Retail Park.

Centre manager Wendy White said: "We'll be delighted to welcome Peacocks to the centre in around September when we anticipate having the unit completed."

She added that the new stores were being built because the modern trend was for stores to take large areas.

In the decades since the 1960s, when much of Templars Square was built, the tendency was to have more shops, each taking a smaller area.

She said that there were three shops under offer at the moment and one waiting for a tenant.

A spokesman for Sainsbury's, which vacated its Templars Square store last year, told the Oxford Mail that there were two firm offers on the table for its store. He added that the plan was to divide the store into two units.

About 20 years are still left of Sainsbury's lease from the centre's owner, Hemingway.

The Co-op supermarket, recently refurbished, now serves many of Sainsbury's former customers.

Discount health and beauty seller Savers recently moved into the square.

Bensons Shoes has also opened an outlet there, joining retailers Inspiration and the Pine Shop.

Local traders Sweet Surrender and Skin Deep also recently moved into Upper Bar, with KK Cappuccino and Baguette Bar.