Multi-million pound plans for Marks & Spencer Foodhall on outskirts of Boston

Boston Borough Council is being asked to award planning permission for the construction of a new retail unit on the outskirts of town, one that would be home to a Marks & Spencer Foodhall.

The store would be based next to the proposed Aldi supermarket, off the A52 Swineshead Road.

It would be accessed via the road that leads to McDonald’s, using the roundabout that also leads to B&Q, Lidl and Tesco.

The branch would feature about 2,000 square metres of food retail space. The plot would also include 160 car parking spaces as well as a servicing yard to the rear.

The proposed opening times are 8am to 10pm, Monday to Saturday, and a six-hour window within 10am to 5pm on Sundays.

The application has been submitted by Carta Real Estate (Boston) Ltd.

In a Planning and Retail Statement prepared by Planning Potential on behalf of the applicant, it states the proposals would create a ‘significant’ number of jobs at the construction stage and up to 70 full time and part time jobs for local people once operational.

It reads: “The application site comprises a prominent development site, ready for development in a sustainable and accessible location within an important area entering Boston along the A52. Alongside the strong retail justification for the proposals, there are many additional benefits of the proposed retail development. A M&S food store with all associated works will bring about increase choice competition in the market place, claw back trade and act as a catalyst for further development.”

As part of the Planning and Retail Statement, Marks & Spencer make a statement of its own.

Comments in this include:

• “The proposed development will provide a fit-for-the-future M&S Foodhall at a site south off Swineshead Road which will ensure M&S retains its presence in the local community for the long term, following the closure of the M&S store in Boston in 2019.”
• “A new M&S Foodhall at Swineshead Road would provide the best of M&S in a state-of-the-art retail experience for the customers of Boston within a well-designed building which complements the surrounding area. The use of attractive lighting, light boxes and digital screens further ensures a modern shopping environment to entice customers into the store.”
• “The new foodhall will deliver the soul of a fresh market, with the mind of a supermarket and will include the fill your own range and the famous 360-degree cheese barge. It will stock the full M&S food range such as Plant Kitchen and Eat Well with a much fuller depth and footage with approx. 6,600 lines providing a far enhanced, more enjoyable shopping environment.”

According to the Planning and Retail Statement, several locations in Boston’s town centre were considered for the store, but these were found to be either unavailable or unsuitable (or both); insufficient space for the development was given as one issue.

Marks & Spencer closed its branch in Market Place in April 2019, bringing to an end more than 100 years’ history in the town.

The nearest Marks & Spencer Foodhall to Boston is in Bourne, 19 miles away, or Skegness, 20 miles away.