End of an era as M&S sets date to close its branch at Royal Priors shopping centre in Leamington

The poster at the M&S branch in the Royal Priors shopping centre in Leamington confirming the closing date date for the shop and opening date for the new store at the Leamington Shopping Park next week.

M&S will close its branch at the Royal Priors shopping centre in Leamington town centre and open a larger store on the outskirts of the town at the start of next week

Posters in the windows of the shopping centre branch show that the shop will close next Tuesday (October 12).

M&S is also set to open a 'full line' store at the former Debenhams site next to its new Foodhall branch which opened in August at the Leamington Shopping Park on the outskirts of the town next Wednesday (October 13).

The M&S branch at the Royal Priors shopping centre in Leamington during lockdown in 2020 when the branch was only open for click n collect pickups.

This new store will include clothing and home departments and a 130-seat café.

The M&S Foodhall branch in The Parade, Leamington, will remain open but the company closed its Simply Food store in Warwick in August.

In May, Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western campaigned to keep both the Royal Priors and Warwick town centre stores open amid fears of the impact the closures would have on both town centres with more than 3,000 people signing an online petition he launched.

The closure of the Royal Priors branch will mark the end of an era for retail in Leamington town centre, with M&S having occupied the large unit over both the lower and upper mall of the shopping centre for many years.