'We've missed it' Shoppers queue to get first look inside huge M&S

DELIGHTED shoppers flocked to the huge new flagship Marks and Spencer after a three-and-a-half year wait for the beloved brand to return to the centre of Bristol.

- Angus MCINTYRE

More than 100 people queued up for the grand opening of the enormous store in Cabot Circus yesterday morning.

Trisha Jackson was one of the first in line, arriving well over an hour before excited hordes of shoppers were allowed to stream into the Food Hall entrance.

"We've missed it over the last three years, since the old Broadmead store went," the 57-year old from St George said. "I was here with another lady, we were the first two (to arrive), so I'm a bit of a die hard."

A giant Percy Pig greeted customers as they waited to get in. Ms Jackson said she was optimistic the return of M&S would breathe new life into the city centre.

"Definitely," she said. "Broadmead, a lot of the stores have gone. I remember it as a little girl, we had all the stores here and it was buzzing but now it seems to have just gone down and down, really, which is a shame but I think this (being in) Cabot will help bring it back."