Marks and Spencer confirms new UK store opening date as 11 closures announced

Marks and Spencer has confirmed the opening date of a brand new UK store after announcing 11 closures.

The major retailer will open its new flagship store at Cabot Circus in Bristol City Centre on Thursday, November 13, with the 80,000 sq ft site set to offer the best of M&S food, fashion, home and beauty across three floors. The store will also feature a 17,000 sq ft fresh market-style food hall, with an in-store bakery, fresh market specials and a wide selection of sandwiches, salads and wraps. Shoppers can also visit the 200-seater M&S coffee shop, which will serve barista-made coffee and iced drinks, alongside a range of cooked breakfast rolls, toasties, wraps and sandwiches.

In the fashion and beauty sections, customers will find a huge array of M&S loved ranges and third-party brands, including Clinique and Estee Lauder.

The Bristol Cabot Circus store is one of 16 new M&S stores opening across the UK this financial year, including Bath Southgate, as part of a £300m investment.

Ali Ivery, Regional Manager at M&S, said: "We're so excited to say: "Bristol, we are back". Our Cabot Circus flagship will be one of the most modern stores in the UK, showcasing the very best of M&S Food, Fashion, Home & Beauty for customers.

"We can promise state of the art features, innovative products and of course, more of that M&S magic - just in time for the festive season.

"Since we announced our return to Bristol last summer, the excitement has been growing and we cannot wait to open the doors.

"There's still time to join the team, so visit M&S Careers, follow our store Facebook page for the latest updates and we look forward to seeing you on the 13th November."

The new opening comes after M&S announced it is closing 11 of its cafes in its smaller food shops as part of a continued shake-up of its store estate. M&S is yet to announced which of its cafes will be shutting and when their last days of operation will be.

The closures are part of plans to create space for more popular products, but M&S has said no jobs will be cut as a result.

The retailer has been converting a number of its full line stores into food stores, while other food-only stores are receiving investment to modernise to help serve more customers.

M&S said its store rotation and renewal aims to create 420 bigger, fresher food stores and a more productive group of 180 full line stores, with half of the estate expected to be in the renewal format by 2027/28.