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Marks and Spencer has confirmed it will shut 11 cafes nationwide as part of a major store restructure affecting its 300-plus food shops. The closures will impact fewer than 4% of locations, with branches in Anlaby, Hull , and Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, among those affected. A spokesperson explained: "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. "In some of our small Food stores, where customers want a greater range of M&S Food, our transformation also involves repurposing cafe space across 11 small food stores, out of over 300 M&S cafes, coffee shops and coffee-to-go locations." The announcement follows the recent closure of M&S's Wolverhampton city centre branch on Dudley Street, which shut its doors permanently on September 27 after opening in 1929. Despite the cafe closures, the retailer's transformation strategy includes launching additional food halls, with six new food stores set to open before Christmas , generating 200 jobs. The retailer unveiled a fresh market-style Foodhall on Southampton Street, in Covent Garden, on October 15, and relaunched two revamped Foodhalls in Temple Fortune and Wimbledon. Come November, South London will welcome two additional new Foodhalls at Clapham Common and Fulham Broadway, reports the Express .
