M&S U-turn means store for town

A U-TURN in plans for a historic town centre building means Marks and Spencer will now be coming to East Grinstead.

Only three weeks ago a scheme to redevelop the Caffyns site in King Street and bring an M&S to East Grinstead looked in jeopardy.

But, last night (September 25) plans for the site were approved by councillors and it was revealed that the high street giant is "fully committed" to bringing a Simply Food store to the town centre.

Plans to knock down the Art Deco Caffyns building and replace it with 28 flats and a M&S store were first mooted before Christmas.

Last month Mid Sussex District Council planning councillors refused to grant planning permisison for the development, saying they wanted more detailed information.

Then, at the beginning of September the scheme looked in jeopardy as talks between Caffyns and the developer broke down.

Contracts for the site were conditional on gaining planning permission, which the developers had not gained.

A statement from M&S said: "We are reviewing the current site that we are interested in after a number of specifics about the scheme changed."

This week council officers decided to recommend the planning application for approval after receiving the detailed information they were after and the deal was back on.

At the meeting last night the councillors rubber-stamped the recommendation.

Excerpts of a letter from the developers on behalf of Marks and Spencer was given out at the meeting.

It said: "We are excited about trading in East Grinstead...We will provide job opportunities as the proposed store will create between 40-50 jobs."

For the full story see the Courier and Observer on Thursday October 2.