The queue started at 6:30am. Eight years after Marks and Spencer closed its doors on Putney High Street, the lights were on at number 59 this morning, and Putney turned out.
It couldn’t have been a better day to open. The sun was out, the temperature was up, and people shed their winter jackets to match that shift in mood that comes every year as spring and daffodils start poking through. A vital corner of the High Street came alive again for the first time in nearly a decade. The enthusiasm was unmistakable.
By mid-morning on a Wednesday, the new Food Hall was still packed. “It’s much bigger than I thought it would be,” said one customer leaving with bags. “Very bright and airy. Everything looks very fresh.”
The scale surprised many residents. Shoppers with trolleys and pushchairs moved through aisles stocked for weekly shops, not just quick visits. The flower market near the entrance held bouquets from £13 to £35. The in-store bakery sold loaves from £2.40, with a sustainability angle built in: unsold daily loaves are frozen and resold with a 30-day shelf life, reducing waste. Fresh produce sat at the front. M&S’s new Nutrient Dense range, launched in January and focused on fibre, filled shelves alongside the standard stock. A coffee machine near the door offered takeaway cups for commuters heading to the nearby station.
As we reported last week, the store opened five weeks ahead of its planned April 1 date. The early opening meant workers were visible inside past 10pm in recent days, racing to meet the new deadline.
The store is roughly 10,000 square feet. M&S created 40 new jobs for the opening. The Putney store is part of a £90 million London investment programme this financial year, which has already delivered openings in Covent Garden and Clapham Common.
One customer leaving mid-morning with shopping bags summed up the mood: “It just brings up the tone of the high street. There are lots of vape shops and chicken shops. It’s nice to have somewhere that’s actually quite pleasant to go to. And even Sainsbury’s is quite rundown. This is just beautiful, and the selection across cold foods and all the ambient stuff, it’s amazing.”
Another resident said: “We’ve been waiting for this for so long. It looks so swish. I just feel like maybe it might be a start for the rest of the High Street to get a bit better.”
A third described it as “very nicely resourced in terms of quality and variety.”
Ronnie Whelan, who has lived in Putney for 40 years, made welcome flyers to hand to the manager. She printed a photo of this morning’s queue and added a message thanking M&S for investing in the area. She wandered the floor looking for someone to give them to.
“I’m just so pleased,” she told Putney.news. “I always try and support the shops here. If there’s a branch somewhere else I think no, I’ll wait till I get back to Putney. And that’s what I’ll be doing with M&S now.”
Did you try out the new M&S yesterday? Tell us your thoughts
On the shop floor, a staff member turned to a colleague and said: “This is just fantastic.”
Outside, the building carries a message across its frontage: “HELLO PUTNEY.”
The store first opened in 1931 and traded on the same site for 91 years before closing in April 2018. For years it sat boarded and empty, used for a rave during the pandemic, then wrapped in scaffolding. When the scaffolding finally came down last November, the restored Art Deco facade marked the clearest sign the wait was nearly over.
Now it is. The building that once symbolised Putney High Street’s decline has become a symbol of recovery.
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Thx Kieran,
The clothing/home collection desk is an important service point, so not just food. Interesting to see the MP is taking credit for the reopening…. Hammersmith bridge next?!