New jobs will be created when Littlewoods completes its takeover of the C&A store in Brighton in January.

The firm, which is one of the UK's leading retail companies, has confirmed the Western Road store is being treated as a "major investment" which will house both a Littlewoods and an Index catalogue shop.

New store manager, Tony Collison, who is from Eastbourne but has spent the last nine years at Littlewoods Head Office in Lancashire, will oversee a total refit of the store.

A spokeswoman for Littlewoods said: "Though it is too early to say exactly how many new jobs will be created, this is a large store and the number of jobs created will reflect that."

Littlewoods already has shops in Eastbourne, Hastings, Bognor and Crawley.

And experts say the arrival of the chainstore in Western Road, coupled with other recent shop openings and improvements, reflect retailers renewed confidence in the street.

Other key developments include the expansion of Waitrose supermarket which will be completed this month.

The redevelopment of the empty unit next to C&A, formerly Superdrug, as a Poundland.

The ongoing redevelopment of the old Debenhams Department Store and the opening of a Co-op Building Society in another vacant shop.

Town Centre Manager Tony Mernagh said:"The situation is a lot more positive there than it was a couple of years ago when a lot of shops relocated into Churchhill Square at the same time, leaving several vacant units.

"Prospective retailers saw the empty shops and were reluctant to be the first ones to move in.

"Now retailers have realised that Brighton is a place where people spend money and they are queueing up to come here. They can see there is no room in Churchill Square and opt for the nearest place to it, which is Western Road."

The lease on the existing Poundland store in North Street has already been earmarked for Barclays.

When it eventually moves into the store, the lease on its existing North Street branch, which is a listed building, will be marketed for retail development.