Former managers Paul Crockett and Robert Peckham – who had both worked at Jessops for six years – have taken over the shop in Bicester, Oxfordshire, and will run it as an independent photographic retailer.

The pair say they have received ‘significant financial support’ from local investors for the new venture.

Robert Peckham added: ‘This store has over 20 years successful history as an independent photographic shop on the same site.

‘Many of our longstanding customers remember its former identity as ‘That Camera Place’, for almost 10 years before Jessops took over the business in 2005.’

The new store, to be called Imagex, is set to be opened on 1 March by Charlie Ross, an auctioneer and a presenter on BBC programme Flog It! who is a local resident and a former customer.