21 december 2017 the oxford paper

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THE OXFORD PAPER Thursday, December 21, 2017 No.71

60p

theoxfordpaper.co.uk

Wishing all our readers and advertisers a very merry Christmas

Your guide for your

Out& About leisure time in & arou

nd Oxfordshire

From tragedy comes a true triumph

Weekly leisure guide for in & around Oxford

War Horse review – don’t miss chance to see First World War dram a

A Christmas cracker for city centre as footfall increases Join Michael Bolton

for an intimate evenin

g of music

By Samantha McGregor OXFORD has seen an increase of tens of thousands of visitors giving businesses a much-needed Christmas boost. Latest figures from December 4 to 10, show the number of people coming into Oxford city centre was up by 13 per cent compared to the same period last year, which translates to 86,000 more visitors to Cornmarket, Queen Street and elsewhere in the city centre. Oxford City Council records footfall in the centre and says Christmas shoppers have helped push figures up. Council leader Bob Price puts the increased footfall down to the opening of the Westgate centre and the popular Christmas market in Broad Street, putting Oxford back on the shopping destination map. He also said more stores were moving into empty city centre units vacated after shops moved to the Westgate centre. A total of 720,605 people visited the city centre between December 4 and 10 and the busiest day was the Saturday with 145,514 visitors. Overall the council said footfall for the year to date is up by 4.1 per cent on the previous year. Cllr Price said: “As expected, the opening of the Westgate centre has given a massive boost to the number of people coming into the city and the monitoring data shows clearly that

this increase has been felt widely across the city centre in the run up to Christmas. “The Broad Street Christmas Market has been very popular again.” Cllr Price said the empty shops in the city centre amounted to about six per cent, compared with the current UK average of 12 per cent. He said: “The empty shop units created by businesses moving to Westgate are fi lling up fast and from our discussions with landlords it seems that very few will remain empty for long. “Demand for retail space in the city centre is strong and we hope that more independent traders will be attracted by the increased availability of shop units in prime locations.” Footfall counters are in Queen Street, Cornmarket and St George’s Place, with Cornmarket the busiest location.

DAMIRA

BURY KNOWLE HEADINGTON

01865 308 400

www.damiradental.co.uk

Wrapping up for run ELVES, boxes in wrapping paper, Spiderman and even a bin full of recycling took part in Oxfordshire’s Christmas fun run last week. The event on December 13 involved 100 Oxford city and

Oxfordshire County Council workers running around Christ Church Meadow in remarkable outfits. Julian Richardson, a county council engineer, organised the 2.25mile race and won with a

SAME DAY WALK-IN APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE

WELCOMING NEW NHS PATIENTS

207 London Road, Headington, Oxford OX3 9JA

Picture: Barry Cornelius time of 12 minutes 17 seconds. The unique event has been hosted by the councils since 1979. Another county council employee, Sue Cozens, was the fastest woman, running it in 17 minutes and 7 seconds.

EXTENDED OPENING HOURS OPEN ON SATURDAYS

buryknowle@damiradental.co.uk


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