A Leicestershire M&S store will not reopen after it was badly hit by a devastating fire.
Bosses at M&S confirmed the news after Thurmaston Shopping Centre was hit by the blaze on Saturday, June 20. Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service sent eight fire engines, two aerial appliances and more than 40 firefighters to the scene, with dramatic images showing flames and smoke rising high into the sky.
The fire saw the roof of the shopping centre’s Mountain Warehouse store collapse and forced the closure of Greggs, Starbucks and M&S store.
Since then, a large gap has been left in the shopping centre, but shoppers previously said the biggest loss was the closure of the M&S store.
Lisa Lennon said: “There are still shops that we visit here but in general we do visit much less since the fire. It’s mostly because M&S closed down, that was a real loss for us.
“I live in Thurmaston and I can say that soon we will only have supermarkets left and that will be it.
“When M&S shut their café, the shopping centre kind of lost that leisurely feel to it and now that Starbucks is closed too, you don’t really feel like relaxing here. You just want to do your shopping and leave.”
Antoinette Chandler, 55, said: “We definitely visit the shopping centre less and we miss the M&S.
“It needs to return because I’ve talked to so many people who all said it was one of the only stores they used to visit here.
“I do think Thurmaston has lost a lot of its appeal, there just isn’t as much here anymore.”
The supermarket chain previously said it was accessing the fire damage at their store and that the closure was only “temporary”.
However, bosses have now confirmed that they will not be reopening the store which they had been operating from for more than 16 years.
Laura Arnold, regional manager at M&S, said: “Over the past few months, we have been assessing the damage caused by the fire at Thurmaston Shopping Centre and sadly, our store will now permanently close.
“We know this is disappointing news for local customers and I’d like to thank everyone who has shopped at the store over the past 16 years and all of our colleagues.”
According to the company, their main priority now is looking to move workers from the closed store to nearby sites.
Ms Arnold said: “Our priority is now continuing conversations with the store team and we will work as hard as we can to redeploy colleagues to nearby stores.
“We hope to bring a new M&S store to North Leicester in the future but in the meantime, we will continue working hard to serve customers at our Fosse Park, Oadby and Loughborough stores.”
