FASHION giant H&M is in talks about opening a store in Colchester.

Negotiations are said to be in their final stages with Lion Walk Shopping Centre to bring the retailer and a several other leading fashion firms on to the town centre site.

The new shops would form the multimillion-pound third phase of a large-scale refurbishment of the centre.

Lion Walk manager Paul Bentham said he hoped work could begin in January to make room for H&M.

Other businesses considering a move to Lion Walk include Zara, Jane Norman and Republic, Mr Bentham said the deal depended on getting a big name committing itself to the centre. He explained: “There would be no point spending £1.5million to do all the work to get a bigger retailer, if we did not get them in the end.

“At the moment we lose shoppers to Chelmsford and Ipswich because they say they are going there because of H&M. Once they are there, of course, they stay there and use the other shops, so it would be a good one to have in Colchester.”

Next, which already has a shop in the High Street, has also expressed an interest in getting bigger premises.

The Lion Walk refurbishment already has planning permission and work has started on the first phase, including removal of the bridge over Culver Walk.

Better lighting, new fascias and paving and improvements to the cafe and shop frontages are included in the scheme.

The third phase would involve knocking through empty shops, previously occupied by 02, Paperbox and Samantha’s Innovations to create one large 20,000sq ft unit.

Leading fashion chains could also open in another larger shop which is to be created by joining two other former shops, including Calendar Club.

Mr Bentham said computer company, Apple, had also recently signed up to open in the old Barratts shop, opposite Marks and Spencer’s Lion Walk entrance.

When plans for the third phase were agreed, a majority of Gazette readers questioned about businesses they’d like to see there mentioned H&M and Primark.

However, Mr Bentham said it was unlikely Primark would be able to move to the town because none of the building likely to be available would be big enough.