HORDES of campaigners opposed to the forthcoming closure of a town centre supermarket voiced their concerns during a public meeting.

Members of the recently formed Keep Colchester High Street M&S Open group gathered in solidarity at Firstsite on Sunday morning.

The 50-strong association of residents, shoppers and councillors joined forces to discuss Marks and Spencer’s decision to shut its famous town centre store.

The supermarket, which has been a staple of the High Street for nearly 100 years, will instead be relocated to a large premises at the Stane Retail Park, in Stanway.

Gazette:

Led by Maarten and Sarah Westera, whose petition has garnered more than 3,200 signatures, the meeting marked the start of what will be a long-running campaign.

Mr Westera said: “We didn’t have a clue what to expect but it was incredible and we were pleasantly surprised and are very grateful to Firstsite for accommodating us.

“It was extremely positive and useful and it was evident that people are extremely angry about it – literally, nobody wants this and we do not think this will be a success.

“We want M&S bosses to come to Colchester and face us because we have a bun of questions we want to ask to understand how they came to this decision.

“We have a strong resolve and determination to continue with our campaign and we are going to be organising a follow-up meeting.”

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Marks and Spencer’s decision to move their High Street store out of town has been met with overwhelming uproar since the Gazette broke the news last week.

Supermarket bosses, however, have assured shoppers the relocation will only enhance their experience - but Mr Westera begs to differ.

“M&S have completely and utterly misjudged the strength of feeling about this among their customers and broken all their previous promises,” he added.

“It is a staple retailer on the High Street and people want an M&S in their High Street - they do not want to drive to go shopping in a soulless and characterless building.

“What people want is a shopping experience in the historic town centre, with the atmosphere of these old buildings while walking on creaking floorboards.

“M&S said they understood some of their shoppers would be disappointed but the news, but we would say all of their customers are upset and angry about it.”