It's October, so that can only mean one thing - Christmas!

That is, according to the Clarendon Centre in Oxford, which has already put up its festive decorations.

We haven't even reached Bonfire Night, and a few people are still walking around in T-shirts, but already shoppers are being reminded of Christmas.

As well as the un-seasonal decorations in the shopping centre, shops are also beginning their Christmas displays to tempt us into some early present buying.

But not all shoppers - and not all traders - are happy that Christmas seems to be getting earlier each year.

At Boswells, in Broad Street, a selection of novelty gifts, cards, stuffed reindeer and santa toys, baubles, tree hangings were already on display.

But assistant department manager, Matt Greenwood, said: "We're all for selling Christmas products, but we don't have decorations like the Clarendon Centre.

"That really is just too early. We will wait until a while after the fireworks season is over.

"The main reason we have Christmas things in early is that we have to buy them in mid-August and there's simply nowhere else to store them.

"We'd love to be exclusively non-Christmas until December, but that's what the market is like."

At WH Smith in Cornmarket Street a window display was taken up with cards, gifts, decorations, present ideas and Yuletide-themed items.

Sarah Slark, supervisor of the store's Christmas Shop, said: "The Christmas shop has started selling really well already, particularly the cards and wrap."

But she admitted: "We have mixed reactions from shoppers."

A spokesman for the Clarendon Centre said the Christmas decorations were always put up at this time of year - but it is all too early for the shoppers the Oxford Mail spoke to.

Kate Oliveri, 42, from Banbury, said: "By the end of November, people will be very tired of them, especially the ones who have to work here.

"They will have been up for weeks by then and won't be taken down until mid January - that's nearly a quarter of the year."

Rosanna Cull, 13, from Headington, complained: "It's part of the pressure of shops saying you must buy presents."

Matt Cothier, 23, from Rose Hill, said: "I like it when they put decorations up in about late November."

The city's Westgate Centre is decoration-free - but only until Thursday.