OXFORD has become a “clone town” with less individuality than Watford and Woking, a new think tank report has suggested.

The New Economics Foundation said the community must fight back to save Oxford’s independent shops and identity, in a new report describing how chain stores and supermarkets have taken over towns and cities.

A survey of the country’s high streets carried out last year concluded Oxford was now a “clone town”, although it still had more independent traders than Reading, Scunthorpe, and bottom-placed Cambridge.

The Re-imagining the High Street report said: “The towns most dependent on the biggest chains and out-of-town stores have proven to be the most vulnerable to the economic crisis.

“Research in the UK has shown that the large multiple retailers actually suck money out of a local area.

“Approximately 90 per cent of spending from supermarkets and chain stores leaks out of the local economy almost immediately, and there is little evidence to suggest their impact on the local economy has, or is likely to improve.”

Independent shops to disappear recently include Waterfield Bookshop, Morris Photographic, glass specialist Laurie Leigh Antiques, Broughton’s hardware shop and the 480-year-old ironmonger Gill & Co.

Meanwhile, Tesco last month opened two new city centre stores, while the proposed Westgate Centre redevelopment is likely to attract even more chains.

Tony Joyce, of the Oxford Civic Society, said: “If the development of the Westgate Centre goes ahead and provided a more suitable location for many multiple stores, it is possible that might make more room for the independent retailers elsewhere. But that would depend critically on the level of rents and business rates.”

Covered Market Traders’ Association director John Partington, of chocolate shop Chocology, said beyond the market, most independents could not afford city centre rents.

He said: “In High Street, Cornmarket, or Queen Street you cannot survive. Even the few independent shops in St Aldate’s have gone.

“If an alien dropped in tomorrow, he would not know it was Oxford. It could be one of 50 other towns in the country.”

And Graham Jones, of Restore Oxford, said the city should encourage shoppers to visit independents rather than chain stores.

He said: “We have got to not just retain the independent shop sector, but to expand it to make sure Oxford does not become another dreaded clone town. They are what make cities different.”

But Oxford City Council spokesman Louisa Dean said Oxford has a wide cross-section of shops that proved popular for 9.1 million tourists each year.

She said: “We have a lot of independent retailers in the High Street, Broad Street and Turl Street and this is complemented by the high street brands in Cornmarket, the Clarendon Centre and the Westgate centre.”

The report’s authors urged towns to introduce loyalty cards and local currencies, and said councils should take over and re-open empty premises.