Copyright birminghammail
The M&S boss has warned that customers are "preparing for the worst" after Labour Party Chancellor Rachel Reeves's speech on Tuesday. The chief executive, who revealed he had a “frank” conversation with Ms Reeves during a store visit last month, said the evidence from customer surveys it conducts suggested "they are getting worried about rising costs and they got more worried after yesterday’s speech". And they are very worried about tax rises and they think things are heading in the wrong direction.” He added: “They are planning for the worst and hoping for the best". READ MORE Drivers warned car tax perk will be scrapped for 'first time' ever in UK "The first half of this year was an extraordinary moment in time for M&S ," Mr Machin said. "However, the underlying strength of our business and robust financial foundations gave us the resilience to face the challenge and deal with it. "We are now getting back on track." M&S, which has stores in Solihull and Birmingham , recently announced the closure of 11 of its cafes as part of a store restructuring. The retailer has more than 300 food shops across the country, and many of these shops feature cafes. A spokesperson for M&S stated after announcing the UK closures: "As we look to modernise our food business and offer the best of M&S Food to more people, more often, we're investing in our store estate to give our customers the widest possible product range. "This includes opening brand-new coffee shops offering delicious food and barista-made fairtrade coffee, including at our brand-new Bristol Cabot Circus store." This reshuffle is part of a broader £300 million investment and store rotation programme, which will significantly boost the number of M&S food halls. This has seen the company convert several full-line stores into food stores, with other food-only stores receiving investment to modernise their operations and better serve more customers.
