TWO-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTY jobs are up for grabs at the new Waitrose store opening on Botley Road, Oxford.

Job hunters will be able to apply online at the John Lewis Partnership website jlpjobs.com from next Friday.

And Waitrose will hold a recruitment open day at Oxford Town Hall from 12 noon to 7.30pm on July 2.

The number of vacancies at the store, which opens this autumn, is higher than previously thought, said Waitrose spokesman Emily Crellin.

Roles range from customer service assistants and in-store restaurant posts to drivers for home deliveries.

Meanwhile, the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in Oxfordshire continued to fall in May, new figures out yesterday show.

There were 2,558 men and women claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance in the county, down from 2,762 in April.

But the most dramatic change is year-on-year, with the number of people signing on having fallen by a third (34 per cent) from 3,886 at the same time last year.

The Job CentrePlus employer engagement manager Diane McKenna-Rhead said the Oxfordshire market was “extremely buoyant”.

Training and recruitment has started on behalf of construction firms such as Laing O’Rourke, which is one of the main contractors for the new Westgate development.

The complex, due to open in 2017, is expected to generate more than 2,300 jobs in a mix of roles from retail and logistics to security.

Ms McKenna-Rhead said: “We are doing much better than the UK as a whole.”