OXFORD is one step closer to retail heaven now developers have begun knocking down the shops part of the old Westgate Centre.

The bulldozers have remained quiet since work to demolish the dilapitated multi-storey car park beside the shopping centre finished last year.

But they roared back into life, tearing into the walkway between the two buildings before turning their power on the shopping centre itself.

The £440m project, expected to be completed in autumn 2017, is set to feature a three-storey John Lewis store, a five-screen Curzon cinema, 70 new shops, 25 cafes and a range of restaurants.

The centre’s existing Bonn Square facade will be replaced by a curved entrance topped by a glass ‘lantern’, with two new buildings on the demolished multi-storey site.

The scheme to overhaul the Westgate Centre is being undertaken by the Crown Estate and Land Securities, who form the Westgate Oxford Alliance.

They say the redevelopment will create about 3,400 new jobs, as well as 1,000 construction jobs.

Most stores inside the shopping centre have closed, with only Primark and Sainsbury’s still open.

The Central Library will temporarily close on February 27 and be replaced by a service in the Oxford Castle Quarter from the end of March.