HUNDREDS of people have said they are less likely to shop in Oxford city centre now the new Westgate is open.

In a poll on the Oxford Mail website yesterday, 240 people out of 584 – 41 per cent – said they would rather do their shopping in the £440m new centre which opened last month.

We ran the survey after reporting yesterday that Cornmarket Street has been left with gaping holes since major retailers including Next, River Island and Lush moved to the Westgate.

Readers also took the opportunity to air opposing views on the website about the affect the new Westgate seemed to be having on the city centre.

'Little Miss Angry' said: "A council made a problem which didn't require a crystal ball: you robbed Peter (Cornmarket) to pay Paul (Westgate).

"I walked through Cornmarket several evenings ago and it was as sad as I've seen.

"Westgate is soulless, bleak and the toilet (which took ages to find) was graffitied already. Sad.

"Any positives? Not really - oh but we have a John Lewis. Happy days."

Aasif Jiddan said: "Let's have some useful shops back, such as Poundland, Shoezone and The Works." and 'Going_Digital' added: "The rent and rates in Oxford is so high that only overpriced brands with 50 per cent+ margins can come anywhere close to being able to survive."

On a more constructive note, 'stayingafloat' suggested that empty shop units could be used to house homeless people over winter.

Defending the new shopping centre, 'Opinion2017 Oxfordshire' said: "Time will tell if the Westgate centre will be a success, but let's face it Oxford needed something to attract shoppers from within the local area and outside... For years people from the city and the areas around it have been spending their money elsewhere, because Oxford had nothing to attract people."