M&S allowed to expand store in Swindon

The extension at the Orbital Shopping Park will feature a market-style food hall

Marks & Spencer (M&S) has been given the go-ahead to expand its store at the Orbital Shopping Park in Swindon.

The site, just off Thamesdown Drive in Priory Vale in north Swindon, will soon be expanded into the empty unit next door.

The extension will increase its footprint by 40 per cent to a total of nearly 60,000 square feet - and will feature a fresh market-style food hall and new clothing, home, and beauty departments.

The company said the work is expected to be completed by spring 2025.

The retail giant submitted planning applications to allow changes to the rear of the building to create a new, enclosed area for the plant running the building’s light and heating systems and changes to a trolley bay.

The entrance lobby of the additional unit will be demolished and replaced with cladding to match the existing store and there will be new signs on the empty building.

Marks & Spencer is expanding into an empty unit next door

The company said, “The proposed development will create a new, amalgamated retail unit for M&S which will allow an improved offering and better serving for the customer."

The report giving the chain store permission for the changes said the expansion would work well with the nature of the surrounding shopping centre and appearance of the wider area.

The work can take place in stages so the branch will remain open as normal.

There was sadness among shoppers in Swindon last year when M&S shut its town centre branch in Regent Street in late October.

It had been trading from the site for 112 years and many residents worried its closure would negatively impact the town.

There is another M&S food hall at Mannington Retail Park and a clothing outlet at the Designer Outlet in Rodbourne.

Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.