The retailer is set to open a new store at Kingswood Retail Park
The new Kingswood store is expected to open in 2027(Image: PA)
A return to Hull city centre is not in Marks and Spencer’s plans, a senior Hull City Councillor has revealed. The retailer left the city centre in 2019, leaving Hull without a full range store ever since.
The brand’s presence hasn’t entirely vanished from Hull due to the Simply Food store at Kingswood Retail Park. However, following the closure of the Whitefriargate store seven years ago, shoppers in Hull have had to leave the area to visit a full range M&S.
Following news that the retailer is to open a new full-range store at Kingswood, replacing its current Simply Food store, at January’s full council meeting, Labour Party councillor, Paul Harper, of the North Carr ward, asked “what is being done by the council to try to bring retailers back into the city centre.” He admitted the question came “partly on the back of the new location for Marks and Spencer on the Kingswood site.”
Responding to Cllr Harper’s question, the council’s portfolio holder for regeneration, Cllr Paul Drake-Davis said the council “will continue our plans to improve the economic vitality of the city centre by bringing forth major new developments like the East Bank Urban Village, the staple site – Albion Square, the Paragon site behind St Stephen’s, and other sites identified in the new City Centre Vision. The delivery of these projects will improve Hull’s attractiveness to the boards of retailers who ultimately look at the potential balance sheets to decide if their investment into a new store will generate the required returns.”
Cllr Drake Davis also spoke of the importance of the council’s annual attendance UKREiiF (The UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum) in Leeds. He added: “Last year our conversation with Marks and Spencer there revealed their current business plan for Hull does not extend beyond their new full range store at Kingswood.” Marks and Spencer has confirmed that Cllr Drake-Davis’ comments are correct as it stands.
The new store at Kingswood is not expected to open until “Autumn/Winter 2027”, the retailer revealed in December. The timeframe was included in a letter sent in response to Dame Diana Johnson, Hull North and Cottingham MP, who wrote to M&S seeking an update on the new store.
In addition to the councillor’s comments, any hopes of an M&S in Hull city centre were also slashed with Hull not appearing on the retailer’s recently revealed 500 store wish list. M&S has published a list of 500 possible sites across the country for new and refurbished.
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