M&S Oxford Street store refurb finally gets approval

Marks & Spencer has been given the green light to demolish its flagship Oxford Street store, ending a fierce three-year planning battle over the Art Deco building.

- ANNA WISE

Housing secretary Angela Rayner ruled yesterday that the plans can go ahead. The retail giant wants to rebuild the store into a nine-storey building, housing a retail space, a cafe, a gym and an office.

Stuart Machin, M&S’s chief executive officer, wrote on X/Twitter: “I am delighted that, after three unnecessary years of delays, obfuscation and political posturing at its worst under the previous government, our plans for Marble Arch – the only retail-led regeneration proposal on Oxford Street – have finally been approved.”

He said the business could “now get on with the job of helping to rejuvenate the UK’s premier shopping street” through the flagship store.