Closure date set for popular Lanarkshire town centre Marks & Spencer store

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Marks & Spencer store in East Kilbride at the centre of a legal row will close its doors for good this month.The town centre shop has been running at a reduced capacity, effectively as an outlet store, for several years.M&S announced in 2018 that it intended to close the unit and in 2020 began "winding down" operations with only a handful of its 67 staff retained.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android This was despite a high-profile community campaign, backed by local politicians, for the store to remain in the Plaza.A long-running legal battle saw town centre landlords win an interim court order meaning the store continued to trade - as a lease was in place until 2071.And lawyers for the commercial property firm returned Court of Session in 2021 after it believed the retail chain was “doing the bare minimum” in complying with the order.While M&S escaped a contempt of court finding, Lord Braid ordered them "to do more" in keeping the store trading with locals branding it a "ghost shop".But the retailer now say they have reached a "mutual agreement" with the landlord and will close the town centre store on February 25.The closure date for the M&S Plaza store follows the announcement just weeks before Christmas that the owner of EK, East Kilbride, Sapphire, had gone into administration with a new buyer