COLCHESTER'S High Street Marks and Spencer shop will shut its doors for good today in "a very sad" day for the city centre.

The retailer, which has been at the heart of Colchester for nearly 100 years, will close for the final time at 6pm.

The supermarket chain is pushing ahead with plans to move to a site at Stane Retail Park, in Stanway, with its new store set to open tomorrow.

More than 5,000 people signed a petition calling for the High Street store to be spared the axe.

The petition's organisers, Maarten and Sarah Westera, said: "Without this busy and popular Marks and Spencer store the rest of the town will suffer badly.

"This decision by M&S has not been made in the interest of customers but only in the interest of larger profits.

"It's damaging to the environment, with more people having longer car journeys.

"Lots of people will not be able to travel on buses or walk into town to shop.

"Stane Retail Park is not central to many areas of Colchester and surrounding villages. Journey times could potentially take up to 40 minutes or more."

Colchester's High Steward Sir Bob Russell repeatedly appealed to M&S bosses in a bid to keep the store open, even buying shares in the company to speak at its annual general meeting.

"I think a lot of people are very sad to see it go," he said.

"I am fit and agile and can get around, a lot of people cannot and this will be a real blow to them.

"I think it is a bad move. Obviously they are experienced in the retail field, but even so, they can get it wrong."

The new 80,000sq ft M&S will feature a 136-seat cafe and more than 600 parking spaces.

Bosses promise a "new look" foodhall and a large, in-store bakery.

Kelly Soar, store manager, said: “We can’t wait until later this week when we can welcome customers through our doors.

"It’s been a great few weeks behind the scenes working hard to put things together and we’re excited for everyone to see what the new store has to offer."

The new store will be open from Monday to Saturday from 8am until 8pm and on Sunday from 10am until 4pm.

An M&S spokesman said: “We’re excited to open our brand new M&S Colchester store in Stane Park this week which has already created over 130 additional new jobs in the local area, and will offer customers in Colchester a much bigger range of M&S products across our Foodhall and Clothing, Home & Beauty departments, and a new 136-seat M&S Café.  

“Shopping habits are changing, so we’re rotating our store estate to make sure we have the right stores to offer our customers a brilliant shopping experience.

"We believe it is the right decision to make this significant investment in a new store for the local area so we can deliver the very best of M&S for customers in Colchester.”