M&S Blackburn customers sad as high street store closes

The Marks & Spencer store in King William Street will shut for the final time on Saturday, June 6, after first opening in 1934.

Residents described the decision as “a sad day for the street”, which has also said goodbye to Debenhams, Mercers, Co-op, Woolworths and British Home Stores.

The department store has stated that its site in King William Street had been underperforming for some time and was looking to build a new out-of-town retail site in Frontier Park, on the Hyndburn border.

Plans for the Frontier Park site (Image: BWD)

When M&S revealed it was quitting the town centre in 2023, it was a hammer blow for the revitalisation of the centre of Blackburn, with one of the most recognisable high street brands in a prominent location leaving.

Sarah Booth-Henry said that the shop has “been the one constant in the town” and that they will no longer be coming into the town from her home in the Ribble Valley.

She said: “We won’t come to Blackburn anymore. It is a sad day for this street, which always used to be so busy.”

Her husband, Brett Henry added: “M&S predates my being in Lancashire; I came here 22 years ago, and it is an institution.

Brett Henry (Image: NQ)

“One of the first places I visited was Marks and Spencer’s, and yes, it will be greatly missed, but as my wife and I say and believe, it is on to a new chapter, and things happen for a reason, and we have to think that is so in this case as well. M&S, we shall miss you.

“The positive side of me likes to feel confident that something will take its place. Nothing will ever take the place of M&S, and from a practical standpoint, the square frontage of M&S, which can actually fill it.

“That would be the grand mystery to be revealed. I think it will have a detrimental effect on the high street here.”

Plans for the Frontier Park site (Image: BWD)

However, not many shoppers carried the same enthusiasm as Brett, with others describing the decision by the department store as “disgusting”.

Valerie Lambert said that she had always said that once M&S left the town centre, she would leave the town.

As for the town centre, she said it was like Prime Minister Keir Starmer, “It’s had it”.

Angie Pickup shared the sentiment and also said that she felt sorry for the older generation who still use it as a meeting point.

Angie Pickup (Image: NQ)

Angie said: “I am absolutely gutted.

“What are we left with in Blackburn town centre if they don’t get something good to fill the site?”

This sentiment was echoed by former employee Margaret Heald, who said she spoke to the town hall about what was going to fill it.

She feared that another pound shop or vape shop would be a disaster and suggested that if another supermarket chain came in, like Sainsbury’s or Tesco, it would be better than nothing.

Additionally, other shoppers said that the move to Frontier Park was going to cause issues, particularly for those who don’t drive.

Council bosses have offered up the old Thwaites Brewery site – intended for a new Morrisons until the supermarket chain pulled out of that idea – for the Food Hall, but the brand was adamant it was the Frontier Park site, next to the Hampton by Hilton hotel, or nothing.

Lynn Shields said: “I don’t drive and I am not going up to the industrial estate. I will really miss it.”

Lynn Shields (Image: NQ)

Susan Harrison, who had worked at the shop for 50 years and described the closure as the end of an era, pointed to online shopping as the cause for the decline on the high street.

She added: “There is nothing worse than all these empty shops”.

Susan Harrison (Image: NQ)

In a statement made in March, M&S regional manager Zeba Khan said the company had “made the tough decision to propose the closure of our Blackburn store”, adding: “Shopping habits are changing, and the store does not have a sustainable future.”

Mrs Barclay said she had been using the shop since she was six and questioned where people were going to go, describing the decision as “heartbreaking”.

The M&S plans for Frontier Park looked in jeopardy at one point in 2024, when planning officers recommended the application be refused, as there were better sites for the development to be sited.

Staff members were in tears following its closure (Image: NQ)

Councillors voted to approve the plan, but after an appeal, this was quashed in the High Court that September, forcing the process to be re-run.

Again, planning officers recommended the application be blocked, saying the Thwaites site in Blackburn was a better alternative, but again, Hyndburn councillors approved the plans in April 2025.

The Thwaites site (Image: BWD)

A further legal challenge was then put in by Tesco, backed by Blackburn with Darwen Council, last July, saying Hyndburn Council had failed to properly apply the critical "Town Centre First" sequential approach test in making its decision, and that the Thwaites site is “both suitable and available”.

M&S property director William Smith said in July that M&S was not prepared to invest in the Thwaites site “now or ever, regardless of any outcome at Frontier Park”, and said if the Frontier Park is not approved, it will pull out of Blackburn altogether, resulting in the loss of 75 jobs.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has said the Thwaites site represents an opportunity to open in a “prime town centre location” giving “loyal customers easy access” to the store while securing the long-term future of the town centre.

M&S has also tabled plans to open another Food Hall near Colne, just off the end of the M65, again at an Issa brothers-owned site.

While some welcomed the plans, many said they would prefer an M&S store selling clothes and that the food is too expensive.

Others have raised concerns about the impact on traffic in the area.