M&S Oxford Street store fate to be decided as supermarket giant threatens to leave area

By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter

The future of Marks and Spencer’s flagship Oxford Street store will soon be decided after a two-week public inquiry into controversial plans to knock it down ended.

The supermarket giant stuck by claims it will leave Oxford Street if it is blocked from razing and rebuilding its Marble Arch branch in closing statements on Friday.

The retailer said talk of closure was not a threat but a business case after painting a bleak picture of a “failing” Oxford Street plagued by Candy Stores, souvenir shops, and increasing rents.

M&S wants to replace the nearly 100-year-old building with a smaller shop, offices, a gym, an arcade and a café.

But campaigners are fighting for the historic building to be refurbished instead, raising heritage and environmental concerns.

M&S faced SAVE Britain’s Heritage at a public inquiry in Westminster to decide whether the plans for the buildings, called Orchard House, should go ahead. The inquiry follows then secretary of state Michael Gove’s decision to call in the plans earlier this year.

M&S says it is “unsustainable” to remain in the Art Deco building and that it needs to be revamped in response to changing consumer habits.

The retailer claims the proposed 10-storey replacement building would boost footfall in Oxford Street, create more than 2,000 jobs and use a quarter of the current building’s energy. 

Russell Harris KC, representing M&S, told the inquiry in final statements on November 4 the building is failing due to “inescapable constraints” and said it was largely not designed to be a retail building. He said Oxford Street had an “intangible reek of failure”.

Mr Harris said “the fact that the existing store is failing both contributes to and is compounded by the fact that the west end of Oxford Street is also in decline” – a decline which he called “obvious and palpable”. Retail expert Chris Goddard previously told the inquiry the street is falling behind sites like Westfield and in need of major and urgent change.

SAVE has argued against demolition in favour of refurbishing the building. The group says knocking down the store would release nearly 40,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Matthew Fraser, representing SAVE, said in final statements the inspector should “not be swayed by M&S’ threat to leave Orchard House” as it is “not the constructive attitude of a retailer dedicated to the sustainability of heritage conservation and the future success of Oxford Street”.

He added that there is “no guarantee” M&S would stay in the new building if the plans were green-lit.

Mr Fraser said “there is nothing to suggest that a comprehensive retrofit could not achieve a very significant uplift in value for M&S as well as reputational kudos for pursuing a market-leading sustainable retrofit”.

The inquiry finished on Friday, November 4, and the decision will be announced after the inquiry has weighed up all the information.

Pictured top: Plans for new Oxford Street M&S (Picture: Marks and Spencer)