Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Business
Hannah Baker

Marks and Spencer to close 110 more stores in bid to survive high street crisis

Marks and Spencer is planning to axe 110 more stores across the UK in a bid to turnaround its fortunes.

The high street retailer, which has a large store in Broadmead, says it expects to shut 85 stores and 25 food outlets, on top of the 35 closures it announced last year.

The chain says it is concentrating on “higher-volume stores” with good access and car parking for customers instead.

It is not yet known whether the Broadmead branch will be among those to shut, but there are currently no job cuts planned as part of the closures.

Chief executive Steve Rowe said: "We are deep into the first phase of our transformation programme and continue to make good progress restoring the basics and fixing many of the legacy issues we face."

M&S has seen profit before tax fall by 9.9 per cent to £523.2million for the year to March 31 and is looking to make cost savings of £350million by 2020 to 2021. 

M&S bags food delivery venture with Ocado

"M&S is changing faster than at any time in my career - substantial changes across the business to our processes, ranges and operations and this has constrained this year's performance, particularly in clothing and home," said Rowe.

"However, we remain on track with our transformation and are now well on the road to making M&S special again."

As part of the transformation plan, the retailer will open new stores - as well as shutting others down - and is bringing back its Per Una brand.

There will be 20 new clothes stores and 75 new food ones.

Rowe added: "Our strategy is as much about right sizing, relocating and new openings as it is about closures.

"We have updated our plan for the future shape of our total store estate," M&S said as part of its results.

The stores closed already

Andover

Basildon

Birkenhead

Bournemouth

Bridlington

Clacton

Covent Garden

Crewe [Relocation]

Darlington

Dover

Durham

Edgware Broadwalk

Falkirk

Falmouth

Fareham

Fforestfach

Greenock [Relocation]

Keighley

Kettering

Kirkcaldy

New Mersey Speke

Newmarket

Newry [Relocation]

Northampton

Portsmouth

Putney

Redditch

Slough

St Helens [Relocation]

Stafford [Relocation]

Stockport

Stockton

Walsall

Warrington

Wokingham [Relocation]

The 13 that have shut since March 2019

Ashford

Bedford

Boston

Buxton

Cwmbran

Deal

Felixstowe

Huddersfield

Hull

Luton Arndale

Newark

Rotherham

Weston Super Mare

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.