Castleford ‘deserves better’ as negotiations end and Marks & Spencer confirms town store will close after 90 years

It has been confirmed that the town centre branch of the chain will shut down in spite of efforts from Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP Yvette Cooper, Wakefield councillors and campaigners.

Ms Cooper said the chain had ‘lost its roots’ as negotiations ground to a halt.

The initial announcement, which arrived in late January, raised fears of how Castleford would deal with the blow of losing one of its biggest retailers as it awaited substantial investment from the government’s Towns Fund.

Ms Cooper said: “It is incredibly disappointing that M&S have refused to change their minds and are refusing to consider any other option than closing this month despite all the strong views from local people and the impact it has in town.

"I’ve had repeated meetings with M&S and arranged for them to meet with Wakefield Council to look at other options to stay open including switching to food only, linking it to the new town investment, or even just delaying closure until a new plan was in place for the store.

"But M&S have refused to look at any of those options and are pushing ahead with closure.

"They’ve obviously decided to switch to big out of town stores, going against all their roots as a traditional high street, community focused business.

"After local shoppers have supported the store for over 90 years, our town deserved better than this from M&S.

"Wakefield Council are now looking urgently at what can be done to help get a new occupier and it’s really important we all continue to support other local businesses and jobs so they aren’t hit by this too.”

A petition to save the store gathered more than a thousand signatures within days of the initial announcement.

Castleford councillor Tony Wallis said there was a risk of a domino effect if fewer shoppers saw a reason to go into town.

In January, Coun Wallis said: “We are just at the start of regeneration and I am sure M&S would benefit as well if they stayed on just a bit longer – then hopefully they will stay permanently.”

A Castleford business owner said how customers had already told him they would stop coming to the town if the plans for M&S closure went ahead.

An M&S spokesperson said: “Shopping habits are changing, so we’re rotating our store estate to make sure we have the right stores to offer customers a brilliant shopping experience.

"Before closing any store we always carry out a detailed review looking at the store's performance and ongoing investment requirements.

"Unfortunately we have concluded it is not sustainable to continue trading from the store in Castleford.

“Since the announcement, our priority has been to support our colleagues, but we have also engaged with Wakefield Council and other local stakeholders.

"As well as our major investment in a brand new store at the White Rose Shopping Centre which will be opening soon, we will also be working hard to keep serving the local community in our other nearby stores – including our Castleford M&S Outlet, our M&S Wakefield store, and our nearby M&S Foodhall in Pontefract where customers can also Click & Collect their shopping from M&S.com.”