Marks & Spencer planning to axe Bridlington and Keighley stores

A shop in Bridlington and a shop in Keighley are set close, the retailer said, as it announced that it was planning on shuttering a total of eight stores nationwide. Overall, the move will impact a total of 468 jobs.

M&S intends to reposition around 25 per cent of Clothing & Home space through a combination of closures, downsizes, relocations and conversions to food-only stores.

The retailer has also reduced its Simply Food opening programme. Now it only plans to open a total of 36 owned and franchise stores over the next six months.

Sacha Berendji, director of retail at M&S, said: “We’re committed to transforming M&S for our customers, colleagues and shareholders. Stores will always be an integral part of our customer experience, alongside M&S.com, but we have to ensure we have the right offer in the right locations.

“We don’t want any colleagues to leave M&S and we will work with each colleague individually on what is best for them as we endeavour to give everyone a role. However, we accept in some cases we may have to consider redundancy.

“We believe these changes are vital for the future of M&S and we will continue to accelerate the programme, taking tough but necessary decisions, as we focus on making M&S special.”

M&S currently has 1,025 stores in the UK: 302 Clothing, Home and Food, 684 Food-only and 39 Outlets.