What next for Boswells the city’s family-run department store?

But in 2019 the unthinkable happened when directors announced it was to close.

Now there are plans for the building on the corner of Cornmarket and Broad Street to become a boutique hotel.

A deal has been agreed between Oxford City Council, and the Reef Group, the company which wants to use the building as a luxury hotel, which would be named the Store.

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The plans for Boswells will see the building filled with 101 hotel rooms, alongside a basement gym, and a restaurant and bar on the ground floor which will be open to walk-in customers, and a new rooftop terrace.

A council official said earlier transforming the building would help to boost the local economy by providing room for short term stays in the city centre.

Boswells lease on the building had been due to last until June 2058, but Reef has bought those 38 years of the lease from the store, and has also bought the freehold of Boswells' building on Cornmarket Street as well.

Reef has said it wanted to retain features of the old store, including the Boswell and Co signs which sit over the entrances to the shop.

It also wants the new interior of the hotel to be inspired by the 1920s Art Deco design of the building.

Boswell and Co started trading in Oxford in 1738.

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But the store's management announced in 2019 its doors would close forever because of adverse trading conditions.

Approximately 70 members of staff were made redundant, and Boswells finally closed in March 2020 with the first coronavirus lockdown.