IT’S one of the biggest food and leisure developments in Europe, touted as new focal point for Southampton’s social scene but could it eat up all the opposition around it?

This week one Southampton restaurateur has blamed the new £85m Westquay extension for the demise of her business.

Dock ‘O The Bay in the Avenue was the second city restaurant to fold this year. Earlier in February The Food Factory on High Street closed its doors for the last time, citing increased competition as one of the factors in its demise.

Could these two closures be just the starters followed by a main course of multiple failures as the new kid on the block sends its rivals to the wall?

Bridget Vyze, who ran Dock ‘O the Bay with her husband Mo for 18 years, has predicted a “tough year” for the city’s independent restaurants.

Ms Vyze added: “The reason we closed is after a bad year in 2016 we got to January and February hoping to survive those few months until spring then the new restaurant complex in Westquay opened up with 20 restaurants and 6,000 covers which finished us off.

“There are just not enough customers in Southampton to go round and we had no chance of competing with that. It was a shock to all of us too that after 18 years we had no money left to ride this storm. It was just too much for us unfortunately.

“Everyone who works there or who came in there as a customer is as heartbroken as Mo and I are.”

The restaurant’s closure resulted in ten staff losing their jobs.

The arrival of 20 new restaurants – including some big name chains – in one big hit is bound to have an effect.

However, when the expansion to Westquay was first approved in 2008 it was intended to be predominantly retail – then the economic crash, followed by a rapid growth in online shopping forced centre owners and operators Hammerson to rethink their plans.

Plan B was leisure and 'F&B' - food and beverage.

Hammerson claimed there was a huge, pent-up demand for more restaurants from both the pub and the trade.

Sarah Fox, head of restaurants and leisure at Hammerson, said, prior to the opening of what was then still called the Watermark: “I was a restaurateur myself and considered opening in Southampton but couldn’t find anywhere.

“Big name restaurants won’t come to a new area if they are going to be on their own – it’s too much of a leap. The first thing they ask is ‘Who else is going to be there?’”

Some like safety in numbers it seems and by creating a ready made restaurant quarter Hammerson’s found they were onto a winner. When Westquay opened it was more than 90 per cent occupied, an almost unprecedented figure for a project of this size.

Of the 20 new restaurants, only Nando’s and TGI Fridays already had outlets in the city.

Providing eateries new to the south – some of whom like the Real Greek and Red Dog had never ventured outside of London – means that the Watermark will be a journey of ‘exploration’ for many Southampton diners, said Ms Fox.

However, one city restaurateur believes the new extension should have been purely leisure.

Max Romano, the owner of Max’s Bar and Brasserie in Oxford Street, said: “I have nothing against chains but in my opinion they should have opened a concert arena or basketball arena – something that would bring in more business for everybody.

“Things are very difficult at the moment and lots of restaurants on Oxford Street are struggling. We are dead on Friday nights now.”

Chief executive of Hampshire Chamber of Commerce Stewart Dunn said the new phase of Westquay was a welcome regeneration for the city centre.

“However, inevitably with those comes the drawbacks and it does sometimes fall on the independent restaurants,” he said.

“It’s all about competition. At the moment Southampton is in a period of transition and that will take time for people to build up their businesses and traffic.

“There will unfortunately be some casualties. There is an awful amount of covers in Southampton at the moment.

“But it’s commerce.

“The restaurants in Westquay are there to help support visitors and tourism.

“It’s incredibly difficult to restrict commerce.

“And we really have put Southampton on the map [with the expansion of Westquay] but there is a lot to be said for supporting our independent businesses with their unique offering and HCC and the BID (Business Improvement District) would encourage people to support their independent businesses.”

Robin Shepherd of planning firm Barton Willmore said the new Westquay development was the latest phase in the city’s evolution.

“Every city has to adapt and evolve,” he said. “ The trick is to provide several offers not just one.”

He praised the Westquay as a radical development along the lines of Gunwharf Quays at Portsmouth which had attracted new visitors to Portsmouth.

“We need to bring new people to Southampton who will bring more money to the city rather than have the same amount of money being spent but just in different places.”