Fleetwood and Speke latest casualties of M&S closures

Marks & Spencer’s outlet in Fleetwood will shut by the end of July while the retailer’s store at Speke’s New Mersey Shopping Centre has also been earmarked for closure as the company continues to cut store numbers.

The Fleetwood outlet store will shut on 28 July with workers redeployed to nearby sites, and was one of five sites announced for imminent closure by the retailer today. The other four are in Bayswater and Holloway Road, both in London, and also in Clacton and Newton Abbot, Devon.

Additionally, nine further stores have been proposed for closure. In the North West, the retailer’s shop at the New Mersey Shopping Centre in Speke will close, although a definitive date has not yet been set.

The other eight stores lined up to shut are in Darlington, East Kilbride, Falkirk, Kettering, Newmarket, Northampton, Stockton, and Walsall.

The closures come as part of the retailer’s ongoing estates review, with plans now afoot to close over 100 stores in total by 2022.

M&S Stockport and Denton were both announced as casualties in February this year, while the retailer’s Birkenhead store closed at the end of April.

Uncertainty remains over stores in Rochdale and in Chorley, which were due to be occupied by the retailer.

M&S was originally to be an anchor tenant for Rochdale’s Riverside development in a 50,000 sq ft space, but announced it would pull out of the deal last year. Discussions over the potential store are said to be ongoing.

Lisa Rogers, head of region for Lancashire & Cumbria at Marks & Spencer, said: “The decision to close M&S Fleetwood Outlet was a difficult one to make.

“We understand our many loyal customers in the area will be disappointed by this news, but I am pleased that our dedicated colleagues will be relocating to nearby stores including Cleveleys Simply Food and our Blackpool store.”