WESTFIELD is to cut its opening hours to close an hour earlier on weekdays from January.

Owners of the Derby shopping centre said the decision was made after research into trading patterns and by talking to retailers in the £340m complex.

A spokesman for the centre said the current economic climate was only a minor factor in the decision, which will come into effect on January 5.

"We reviewed the operation of the centre on its first anniversary and decided to adjust the opening hours better to reflect the trading patterns in Derby,

"We will continue to have our late-night shopping on Thursdays and Fridays and weekend trading hours remain unchanged."

It means the centre will be open 9am to 6pm Monday to Wednesday and from 9am to 8pm on Thursday and Friday.

The decision will not affect this year's Christmas opening hours.

From December 15, the mall will be open until 10pm every weekday until Tuesday, December 23.

A former retailer in the centre said the late opening hours had been a pressure on his business, which had now closed.

Phal Singh, owner of shoe shop Raid, said: "I think from January most of the retailers were complaining about the fact that they had to stay open after 6pm because there is no-one in that shopping centre after 6pm.

"Westfield was adamant it would stay open to the advertised times and that shoppers would adjust but that obviously hasn't happened.

"I really struggled to pay staff to work the extra hours because I was making perhaps only three or four sales in those last hours of trading. After the sales in January, I think shops really would struggle because trade goes really quiet.

"I think it could have helped me if the changes had been brought in while I was still trading."

Westfield said it would continue to review the trading patterns in the city, which could change when developments such as the Riverlights complex are finished and mean it would be in the centre's interests to open for longer.

Derby City Council leader Hilary Jones said: "It is only natural that Westfield would keep a check on its opening hours to ensure they reflected trading patterns. It makes good business sense to do so.

"I'm confident that a company with Westfield's commercial experience would not take these decisions lightly.

"It is encouraging that more than a year after opening, Westfield has established that there is a demand for late-night shopping on Thursdays and Fridays which some sceptics had predicted there would not be."