A NEW Marks & Spencer store is preparing to welcome customers at Leamington Shopping Park.
The branch will replace Warwick’s ‘Simply Food’ store, which closed in August and the homeware store in Leamington’s Priors Shopping Centre – set to close on October 12. The new branch will open the day after.
It will include food, clothing and home departments, as well as a 100-seat cafe with an outdoor terrace area.
Alongside the store’s new M&S Foodhall, which opened in August, the opening of the clothing and home department and cafe will create 80 new roles.
But the move has not been welcomed by everyone.
Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western launched a petition in a bid to keep the smaller branches open.
The MP said residents had been loyal to the retailer and would not appreciate travelling out of town, and described the loss of the smaller stores as ‘a severe blow to the vitality of the town centres’.
However, the M&S Foodhall branch on the Parade will remain open.
