WANTAGE will lose its Oxfam shop at the end of this month as the building’s upper storeys are converted into flats.

The charity shop and M&A Electricals said they have been told to leave the building in Market Place by August 3.

M&A has found a new unit at 5-7 Mill Street, formerly Bake N Shake tanning salon, and will be moving there in the next few weeks.

But Oxfam, which has been at 29 Market Place for more than 30 years, said it has been unable to find another shop to rent in the town.

Shop manager Liz White said Oxfam was offered one of two new ground floor shops to be created under the flats, but it would not be big enough.

She said: “With the landlord redeveloping the building, regrettably the new space offered is not sufficient.

“Oxfam has been here for more than 30 years and we are looking for new premises so we can stay in Wantage.

“We are so appreciative of the support we received from people over the years.”

Part of the challenge, she explained, was finding a shop with sufficient storage space for all the donations.

Peter Hall, who has run M&A with his wife Jill since 2001, said he was also unhappy about having to leave.

He said: “I am upset – it has come at a time when I could do without the hassle.

“The new place is much smaller, but it will have to suffice. It’s not ideal but needs must.”

He said the landlords had kept him and his wife up to date about plans for the building, which had been “on the cards” for some time.

The landlords – Mr P Newton and Mrs S Hart, according to council records – were given planning permission to build eight flats in the Grade II-listed building’s upper storeys in 2012.

That was conditional on creating new shops on the ground floor.

Planning permission lasts for three years, so the landlords need to start work on the conversion by October 26.

Wantage mayor St John Dickson said he was “frustrated” the building’s upper storeys, currently used as commercial space, were to be converted to flats.

He said: “I think we need more offices in Wantage to allow the commercial town centre to expand.

“I would rather keep the retail space there. I would rather it wasn’t used by a charity shop, but Oxfam is at least a well-established local charity .”

A spokesman for Marriotts estate agents in Oxford, which is marketing the new shop units, said the company had a “reasonable amount of interest” in them, but refused to say what sort of companies had enquired.