The M&S Leeds store closure on Wellington Street remains permanent, but Marks & Spencer is not leaving Leeds. The Central Square Foodhall closed on 22 March 2025 following a review of the retailer’s store estate.
As of August 2026, M&S continues to operate several locations across Leeds, including its main Briggate store, Leeds Railway Station Simply Food, White Rose, Crown Point Foodhall, The Springs Foodhall and Moortown Simply Food.
The bigger development in 2026 is M&S’s accelerating national store transformation. The retailer is continuing to close, relocate, renew and replace stores where necessary while investing in larger Foodhalls and full-line locations that it believes can deliver stronger long-term growth.
The current position is:
- Wellington Street Foodhall Remains Permanently Closed
- M&S Continues To Operate Several Stores Across Leeds
- The 47 Briggate City Centre Store Remains Open
- Leeds Railway Station Simply Food Remains Open
- White Rose Remains One Of M&S’s Major Leeds Locations
- M&S Is Continuing A Wider UK Store Expansion And Renewal Programme
The Leeds closure therefore needs to be viewed as part of M&S’s wider estate rotation rather than as evidence that the retailer is abandoning the city.
Last Updated: 21.08.2026
What Is Happening With M&S In Leeds Right Now In 2026?
The biggest change since the Wellington Street closure is that M&S has continued operating a substantial network around Leeds while its national property strategy has moved further towards larger and more productive stores.
The Wellington Street Foodhall had been particularly useful for office workers, commuters and residents around Central Square because of its position close to Leeds Railway Station.
Its closure removed one convenient small-format Foodhall from that part of the city.
However, shoppers still have several M&S options across Leeds.
The situation also looks different when the closure is considered alongside M&S’s wider performance.
Rather than pursuing a simple programme of reducing store numbers, the retailer is replacing older or less suitable locations while investing in stores with more space, better layouts and stronger potential for Food, Fashion, Home and Beauty sales.
Latest Changes Since The Wellington Street Closure
The Wellington Street closure happened during a period in which M&S was already changing the composition of its physical estate.
One important Leeds location is White Rose. The 97,000 sq ft flagship at White Rose Shopping Centre actually opened on 25 May 2023, before the Wellington Street closure.
It combines a large Foodhall with Clothing, Home, Beauty and an M&S Café.
Its scale illustrates the type of destination store M&S has increasingly prioritised compared with smaller standalone locations.
The closure therefore does not show M&S moving away from physical retail. It demonstrates the retailer becoming more selective about which physical stores it operates and where it invests.
Current M&S Presence Across Leeds
As of August 2026, current M&S store listings show several active Leeds locations.
M&S Location Store Format Current Position
47 Briggate Full-Line Store With Food Open
Leeds Railway Station Simply Food Open
White Rose Shopping Centre Full-Line Store And Foodhall Open
Crown Point Foodhall Open
The Springs Foodhall Open
Moortown Simply Food Open
Current M&S listings continue to show the Briggate, White Rose, Crown Point, The Springs, Leeds Rail and Moortown locations operating.
For shoppers affected by Wellington Street, the most convenient alternative therefore depends on where they are travelling from.
People already using Leeds station have a Simply Food inside the railway station, while Briggate provides a much broader city-centre M&S range.
According to the M&S 2026 annual reporting, the retailer generated group revenue of £17.3 billion during the year, while Food market share reached 4.1%. M&S says investment in new and renewed stores remains central to its growth strategy.
What Are M&S Future Store Plans?
M&S is aiming to create a more productive store estate rather than simply maintaining every existing location.
Its latest 2026 strategy targets around 380 Food stores by 2027/28. For Fashion, Home and Beauty, the retailer is targeting a focused estate of approximately 200 full-line stores over the same period.
That means future property decisions can include several different outcomes:
- Opening New Stores In Stronger Locations
- Relocating Existing Branches
- Extending Successful Foodhalls
- Modernising Older Stores
- Closing Locations That No Longer Fit The Estate Strategy
This is important because older figures referring to plans for 420 Food stores or 180 full-line locations came from earlier stages of the transformation. The 2026 annual reporting provides the more recent target.
M&S Store Strategy And Key Changes
Period Key Development
2016 Major M&S Store Restructuring Programme Began
May 2023 97,000 Sq Ft White Rose Flagship Opened
March 2025 Wellington Street Foodhall Closed
2025/26 12 New Food Stores And Three Full-Line Stores Opened
2026/27 18 Food Stores, Four Extensions And Two Full-Line Stores Expected
By 2027/28 Around 380 Food Stores And 200 Full-Line Stores Targeted
The latest numbers strengthen the argument that M&S is pursuing store rotation, where weaker or less suitable properties can disappear while investment moves towards other locations.
Why Did M&S Close The Wellington Street Store In Leeds?
The M&S Wellington Street Foodhall closed after the retailer reviewed its store estate.
The branch was a relatively small food-focused location rather than a large full-line M&S. When its closure was announced, shoppers were directed towards alternative M&S locations.
M&S has repeatedly described its wider property approach as putting stores in the right locations with the right amount of space. That strategy involves assessing the suitability and long-term potential of individual properties.
It is therefore safer to describe Wellington Street as part of this wider estate review and rotation strategy rather than claiming that one specific issue caused the closure.
M&S did not publicly provide a detailed store-level financial breakdown showing that online shopping, rent, staffing costs or another single factor directly caused the Wellington Street decision.
M&S Store Estate Review
The strategy increasingly favours stores that can serve a wider range of shopping occasions.
For Food, that includes locations capable of supporting a larger weekly shop rather than only convenience purchases. For full-line stores, M&S wants enough space to combine Fashion, Home, Beauty and Food effectively.
This explains why the M&S Leeds store closure can exist alongside investment in bigger locations.
Shift Towards Larger And Higher-Performing Locations
M&S has repeatedly highlighted larger, fresher stores as an important part of its transformation.
Larger shops can offer:
- Broader Food Ranges
- More Clothing And Home Products
- Improved Click And Collect
- Modernised Store Layouts
- More Parking At Some Locations
- Greater Capacity For Weekly Shopping
This makes retail parks and major shopping destinations particularly important to the retailer’s long-term strategy.
Is M&S Closing Stores Or Expanding In 2026?
M&S is doing both, but the overall strategy is focused on growth and improving the productivity of the estate.
Individual stores can still close when they no longer fit the company’s plans. At the same time, M&S is investing significant capital in new branches, extensions and renewals.
This means headlines about an individual M&S store closure should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that the company itself is shrinking.
The Wellington Street closure is a useful example. One Foodhall disappeared from Leeds city centre, but M&S continues to serve Leeds through several other formats and locations.
What Did The Wellington Street Closure Mean For Leeds Shoppers?
For regular customers, the biggest effect was convenience.
Wellington Street was positioned close to Central Square, offices and Leeds Railway Station, making it useful for workers buying lunch, commuters collecting food and residents making smaller grocery trips.
Its closure means shoppers in that part of Leeds no longer have that particular Foodhall.
The practical effects include:
- Fewer M&S Food Options Around Wellington Street
- Longer Trips For Some Office Workers
- Greater Reliance On The Railway Station Or Briggate Stores
- More Customers Travelling To Larger Foodhalls For Bigger Shops
- Reduced Choice For Residents Around The Western Side Of The City Centre
However, it is important not to assume that all former Wellington Street customers have moved online or switched retailers. No public data has been released showing exactly where those shoppers transferred their spending.
What Happened To Employees At The Closed Leeds Store?
When the closure was announced, M&S said it was working with affected employees and looking at opportunities to retain colleagues within the organisation.
The original information indicated that alternative roles were being considered, but there was no confirmed large-scale redundancy announcement attached to the closure.
There does not appear to be a subsequently published detailed breakdown showing exactly how many Wellington Street employees transferred to other branches and how many ultimately left the company.
For accuracy, it is therefore better not to state that employees were definitely transferred to Briggate, White Rose or another particular branch unless M&S confirms it.
How Are Changing Shopping Habits Affecting M&S Stores?
Shopping habits have changed substantially across the UK, but those trends should be treated as wider context rather than a confirmed single explanation for the Wellington Street closure.
Physical shops remain important, particularly for food, but online retail now accounts for a much larger share of consumer spending than it did before the pandemic.
Growth Of Online Shopping
Official data provides a clearer picture of this change.
The Office for National Statistics retail sales data showed that online sales values increased by 14.4% year on year in June 2026.
Online sales accounted for 29.4% of total retail spending, up from 28.9% in May and the highest proportion since April 2021.
Consumers now expect retailers to combine physical and digital shopping through features such as:
- Home Delivery
- Click And Collect
- Online Stock Checking
- Digital Returns
- Self-Service Collection
- Mobile Shopping Services
M&S is therefore investing in digital capabilities at the same time as opening physical stores.
Changing High Street Footfall
Another major factor affecting UK retail is where shoppers choose to visit.
Traditional high streets are competing not only with ecommerce but also with retail parks and large destination shopping centres.
This is particularly relevant to M&S because the retailer’s store strategy increasingly favours locations capable of accommodating bigger, more modern shops.
Growth Of Retail Park Locations
Recent footfall figures illustrate the difference between retail environments.
According to the British Retail Consortium’s July 2026 footfall data, UK high-street footfall fell 3.8% year on year in July 2026, while retail-park footfall increased 1.2%. Shopping-centre footfall declined 1.4%.
One month of footfall data does not determine M&S’s entire property strategy, particularly because weather affected July’s figures.
However, it demonstrates why retailers continue to examine whether every store is positioned in the right type of location.
What Does The M&S Leeds Closure Say About UK Retail In 2026?
The UK retail sector in 2026 is not simply experiencing widespread contraction. Instead, different businesses are responding to changing costs, customer behaviour and store performance in very different ways.
M&S is a strong example of rotation rather than straightforward retreat.
Its approach differs from situations where retailers have had to close locations because of severe financial difficulties or insolvency.
For example, The Original Factory Shop closures resulted in the retailer’s remaining stores shutting after administration and an unsuccessful search for a buyer.
That is fundamentally different from M&S closing selected locations while simultaneously opening new stores.
Other businesses have also been restructuring their estates. Morrisons store closures affected convenience stores, cafés and other services as the supermarket sought to redirect resources towards parts of the business it considered more sustainable.
Financial pressure has been more severe elsewhere. The difficulties surrounding the Claire’s Accessories collapse demonstrate how insolvency can create uncertainty across an entire retail estate rather than individual location changes.
Likewise, the TG Jones closures show how traditional high-street operators have been reviewing store numbers amid changing footfall, costs and restructuring pressures.
Individual closures can also happen for very local reasons. The HMV Lancaster store closure, for example, involved redevelopment and lease circumstances rather than the retailer simply abandoning physical stores nationwide.
Together, these cases show why every closure needs to be examined individually. A shop shutting does not automatically mean that its parent retailer is failing.
Is M&S Leaving Leeds?
No. There is currently no evidence that Marks & Spencer is leaving Leeds.
The Wellington Street Foodhall has closed permanently, but several M&S stores continue to operate across the city.
The retailer maintains:
- A Major City-Centre Store On Briggate
- A Simply Food Store At Leeds Railway Station
- A Large White Rose Store
- A Crown Point Foodhall
- A Foodhall At The Springs
- A Moortown Simply Food
White Rose is particularly significant because its 97,000 sq ft format brings Food, Clothing, Home and Beauty together in one destination.
For this reason, the M&S Leeds store closure is better described as a change in the retailer’s local estate rather than an exit from the Leeds market.
What Could Happen Next For M&S In Leeds?
There has been no confirmed announcement in the sources reviewed for this update that M&S plans to leave Leeds or close all of its remaining city stores.
Future decisions will likely depend on the same considerations influencing the retailer nationally, including store productivity, available space, customer demand and opportunities to relocate or modernise branches.
Across the UK, M&S has made clear that property investment remains a priority.
That could mean more:
- New Foodhalls
- Larger Stores
- Store Extensions
- Relocations
- Modernised Existing Stores
- Closures Where Properties No Longer Fit The Strategy
However, shoppers should distinguish confirmed announcements from speculation. Unless M&S announces a specific Leeds project or closure, it should not be presented as definite.
Conclusion
The M&S Leeds store closure on Wellington Street was permanent, with the Foodhall shutting on 22 March 2025. More than a year later, however, it is clear that the closure did not represent an M&S exit from Leeds.
As of August 2026, M&S continues to operate several stores across the city, from its Briggate and Leeds Railway Station locations to larger Foodhalls and the major White Rose store.
The wider picture has also changed. M&S opened 12 new Food stores and three full-line stores during 2025/26 and is planning further openings, extensions and renewals as it works towards its latest 2027/28 store targets.
The Wellington Street decision therefore fits into a broader strategy of replacing, relocating, renewing and selectively closing stores rather than simply reducing the company’s physical presence.
For Leeds shoppers, one convenient city-centre Foodhall has gone, but M&S remains firmly present in the city and continues to invest heavily in physical retail across the UK.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is M&S Wellington Street Leeds Permanently Closed?
Yes. The M&S Foodhall at Wellington Street in Central Square permanently closed on 22 March 2025. There has been no announcement that the store will reopen.
Why Did M&S Wellington Street Close?
The closure followed a review of M&S’s store estate and fits with the company’s broader strategy of operating stores in locations and formats that it considers suitable for long-term growth.
M&S did not publish detailed store-level financial figures identifying one single cause for the closure.
Is M&S Leaving Leeds?
No. M&S continues to operate multiple stores across Leeds, including Briggate, Leeds Railway Station, White Rose, Crown Point, The Springs and Moortown.
What Is The Latest M&S Leeds Update In 2026?
The Wellington Street branch remains closed, while other Leeds M&S stores continue operating.
The significant 2026 development is M&S’s wider UK expansion programme, which includes further Food store openings, extensions, full-line stores and renewals.
Where Is The Nearest M&S To Wellington Street Leeds?
The best alternative depends on the shopper’s location and journey. M&S currently operates at Leeds Railway Station and 47 Briggate in the city centre, while larger Food shopping options are available elsewhere in Leeds.
Is The M&S Briggate Store Still Open?
Yes. The official M&S store listing continues to show the 47 Briggate, Leeds LS1 6HF branch as open in August 2026.
Did M&S Open A New White Rose Store In 2026?
No. The current 97,000 sq ft White Rose flagship opened on 25 May 2023, not in 2026. The store remains an important part of M&S’s Leeds estate.
The 2026 announcements relate primarily to the retailer’s latest national store-opening and renewal programme.
Are More M&S Stores Opening Or Closing In The UK?
Both can happen as M&S rotates its estate, but the latest programme includes substantial expansion. For 2026/27, M&S expects 18 new Food stores, four Food extensions and two full-line openings, alongside continued store renewals.
