Lewisham Marks and Spencer shop set to close
Marks and Spencer have announced they are looking to close their branch on Lewisham High Street.
The chain have been closing many High Street shops in recent years and moving to out-of-town retail parks.
In their place many towns instead see smaller, food only shops. Woolwich is one such example. Their store on Powis Street closed as they moved to a retail park in Charlton.
A smaller food shop then opened near the Elizabeth line.
The company suggest Bexleyheath or Bromley as alternatives for department stores when revealing the Lewisham closure, which as anyone who knows the area is aware are both some way away from Lewisham.
The company state they may open a food shop in time.
It should be noted this doesn’t directly appear to be down to the shopping centre redevelopment. The M&S building was not due to go.
Ricky Hill, regional manager at M&S, said: “As we reshape for growth, our UK-wide store rotation programme is about making sure that every store we have delivers the best of M&S for our customers.
“Shopping habits are changing, and we have made the tough decision to propose the closure of our Lewisham store.
“Our priority now is continuing conversations with our colleagues, and if the proposals go ahead, we will work hard to offer them alternative roles at M&S wherever possible.
“We have opened six new stores and renewed eleven others across London this financial year, and are working to find a suitable alternative future food location in Lewisham.
This is sad. An anchor tenant like this leaving will decimate foot fall and spend in what’s left of lewisham town centre. It’ll be endless shops selling defrosting bags of battery chickens in open freezers and frozen fish past their sell by date sticking up from plastic tubs.
A sad state of affairs.
That is a disaster.
Many of us rely on this shop for a cuppa, a last minute prezzie, even as a browser for years.
It will be a huge hole in the Lewisham precinct.
Sad, bad news!
People will have to travel to Bromley.
Lewisham is just dieing!!!!
With M&S gone, who will be next to shut down? They are crucial to the survival of the shopping centre, but who can blame them when the car park is being demolished and the council is now charging for Sunday morning parking.
Lewisham council have been hell-bent on making the borough as hostile to cars possible. Without a thought of future consequences. If you can fine unwitting drivers for turning down a road they aren’t allowed, or fine them if they get trapped in a box-junction then they get an instant hit of money. No thought that long term, people will go elsewhere.
Now, there are plenty of folks who will say “great! they should use buses”. But that’s not how it works is it? Since we don’t live in utopia, not everyone has the time or ability to ride a bike to get the family shopping. They will simply go and get their shopping somewhere else with parking available.
So it’s unfortunate for the town centre, but it was not unforeseeable.
So sad to hear about the closure. The cafe staff have served me cheerfully for many years and it has been a great meeting place for the diverse community. It will be greatly missed, thank you to all the staff
Just do not understand why a place like Lewisham cannot sustain a Marks and Spencer. It has the population and the indoors shopping centre is always crowded. Is it that people are looking but not spending, or can’t afford to spend ?
Eltham is an obvious alternative M&S. I hope this isn’t under threat as well.
Likely M&S don’t want the hassle of a clothes section. Its a lot of real estate for high volumes of stock that is no longer particularly competitive on price or quality, and the area isn’t busy or affluent enough to justify converting it to a giant food hall a la Westfield Stratford. Wages have remained stagnant for a decade, so M&S can’t really go toe-to-toe with places like Primark, let alone the online junk. A sad indictment of affordability these days
Charles Calthrop: I think you are spot on with your observations. I no longer shop at M&S, but the Lewisham shop is a handy cut through from the high street to the shopping centre and vice-versa.
That is a big retail space to fill and I can’t imagine that any operation that relies on shoppers being able to park – think B&M or Family Bargains – will be interested.
Another landmark store to close in Lewisham. I wonder what it could be next to replace this store. Maybe it could become a supermarket or another cheap bargain shop.
So sad to hear M&S are leaving Lewisham Another well known retailer.gone from the High Street.
I hope M&S will keep their Eltham High Street store and increase the store trading hours to 8pm or 9 pm On Monday to Saturdays allowing more customers to shop in store.
As the Government also need to review the outdated Sunday Trading Laws which is not helping our High Streets either. Has we need more people to visit our High Streets in the evenings and at the weekends to help local economies.
So sad to hear M&S are leaving Lewisham Another well known retailer.gone from the High Street.
I hope M&S will keep their Eltham High Street store and increase the store trading hours to 8pm or 9 pm On Monday to Saturdays allowing more customers to shop in store.
As the Government also need to review the outdated Sunday Trading Laws which is not helping our High Streets either. Has we need more people to visit our High Streets in the evenings and at the weekends to help local economies.
It is alluded to in Murky’s post but all this was on the cards when Lewisham decided to open a war on cars. I used to drive regularly to Lewisham (I live near Woolwich) but a combination of the council’s culling of parking spaces, LTNs and baffling (no cash) parking charges put me off.
I posted on here at the time saying what would happen and slowly but surely it has.
I agree with the comment about Lewisham’s war on cars, which is relentless. They have now introduced paid street parking on Sundays before 1.30pm, which must be having a serious effect on local shops. The irony is that I, for one, will now drive to Charlton or Bluewater if I want to visit a halfway decent M&S.
@ Kay M: 11:00 until 17:00 on a Sunday is long enough to shop. If you can’t manage to get to the shops during those hours, what you are doing with your life?
@Chris: I am baffled by the constant moaning from drivers about the “war on cars”. I drive, but often take the bus into Lewisham and elsewhere. There is “free” parking at Tesco’s and Matalan. However, they are probably too far away for those allergic to exercise.
Anon – How can you be baffled when there is plainly a war on cars? Greenwich have said they want to move people away from cars and are in the process of trying it by making it harder to get around. Lewisham the same.
I don’t want to park at Tesco/Matalan. I want to park where I used to. As I said, they were the ones that changed things so I don’t go any more. They knew what would happen.
I am not allergic to exercise and still do 10,000-15,000 steps a day according to my phone – not bad for a 70 year old.
@Chris: ‘I don’t want to park at Tesco/Matalan.’ You made your choice and decided that for the sake of walking a few hundred metres, something that should pose no problem to a 70 year old doing 10,000 to 15,000 steps per day, coming to Lewisham is no longer a option.
I live in Lee and on the few occasions that I go to Woolwich, Welling or Bexleyheath, will do so by bus or train. I don’t want the hassle of trying to locate parking and paying the huge charge. I also don’t enjoy driving all that much and prefer to let someone else take the strain.
I wonder what it could be next. Maybe it could be The Range store, a new cinema or to be redeveloped into flats with new shops on ground floor.
@Andrew Gwilt: I would love to see a The Range, but there is one where the old Homebase was at Anerley and I think the operation depends on shoppers being able to park – the one that used to be at Surrey Quays had plenty of parking as does the Purley Way branch.
Spoken to council members today and it seems. M&S will not go in its entirety. M&S Foodhall will still exist in Lewisham, but they don’t see enough money in their clothes department. I too was really worried about them leaving, but feel safer now knowing a foodhall will still be here.