A huge new M&S Foodhall has been announced for Cheltenham and is predicted to generate a £12.7million turnover when it opens in 2025.

Owners of Centrum Park have fulfilled their ambition to attract a new supermarket to the site to help cope with growing demand in the area for food retailers.

M&S has revealed it will be investing in a new multi-million pound Foodhall at the retail park, between The Range and Dunelm.

The new 15,000 sqft store will feature a bakery and cafe and be 50% bigger than the current M&S Foodhall in Kingsditch Retail Park, which will close.

The neighbouring 18,087 sqft M&S Home store in Tewkesbury Road will also close permanently when its lease comes to an end in April. It has not been revealed if there is a new tenant for the unit.

M&S said the move, expected to be completed by the Spring, is due to changing shopping habits.

No job losses are planned as staff will temporarily work in the M&S store in Cheltenham town centre, before being invited to work at the new location.

An M&S spokesperson said: "With the lease arrangements on our stores in the Kingsditch retail park ending in the coming months, we have been looking for a new local location with the right space to offer shoppers the very best of M&S Food.

"Our new M&S Foodhall in Centrum retail park is expected to open in spring 2025. We had hoped to continue trading at our current Kingsditch Foodhall store until the new store was ready, but it has unfortunately not been possible to reach an agreement with our landlord to do this.

"In the meantime, all colleagues from our Kingsditch stores will be able to temporarily move to work in our M&S Cheltenham store in the town centre, before then moving to work in the brand-new Foodhall when it opens in spring 2025.

Centrum Park is owned by The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited.

It has been trying to attract a food retailer to the site after Homebase left in August 2021 and the empty store was split in two.

One half, known as Unit 1C, is now occupied by The Range and it began looking for a food retailer to move into the remaining space known as Unit 1B.

Last year it succeeded in having planning conditions relaxed to allow food and drink to be sold in the unit alongside a cafe of up to 100sqm and unrestricted hours of deliveries.

At the time it said the proposed grocery store would help address 'overtrading' at other nearby food shops and generate a £12.7million turnover by 2025.

More than half of this (52%, £6.6m) was expected to be diverted from the nearby large Sainsbury's and Tesco stores with the rest from Aldi (16%, £2.03m), Waitrose (12%, £1.52m), Lidl (10%, £1.27m) and M&S Food (7%, £0.89m).

But it said it would still only provide a fifth of the 5,028sqm retail space which the council estimates is needed for convenience goods in the town by 2025.

Last week it submitted a planning application (24/00197/FUL) to Cheltenham Borough Council for a mezzanine floor inside the shop "to accommodate the requirements of the proposed food retailer."

Councillor Rowena Hay, leader at Cheltenham Borough Council, said: '"I'm pleased that M&S see the vibrancy, future growth and prosperity of Cheltenham.

"We welcome the news that the M&S Foodhall will see a multi-million pound investment to a new larger premises, with no job losses.

''Cheltenham continues to out-perform most towns and cities and we have a vacancy rate below the national average.''

Ali Ivery, regional manager for M&S, said: "We're excited to announce a multi-million pound investment in a brand-new, bigger, better M&S Foodhall at the Centrum retail park in Cheltenham, which will offer local customers a much wider range of M&S Food products."

"The new 15,000 sqft store will be 50% bigger than our current offer with a fresh market-style Foodhall and a range of new features including displays of great quality, trusted value produce from M&S Select Farms and a show-stopping new M&S Bakery offering fresh daily-baked bread and pastries."