M&S has today announced that it is consulting with 57 colleagues on the proposed closure of its Barrow store.

The proposed closure is part of M&S’s programme to reshape its UK store estate.

Lisa Rogers, M&S Head of Region for Lancashire and Cumbria, said: “The decision to propose our store in Barrow-in-Furness for closure was a difficult one to make.

"We have a great team at Barrow and we’ll be talking to them on an individual basis about what is best for them.

“We remain committed to serving customers in Cumbria and later this year we’ll be opening a new Foodhall in Ulverston, which will also offer Clothing & Home products via Click & Collect.”

The nearest M&S is in Kendal, 33.9 miles or 51 minutes away. M&S is still planning to open the food hall at the Beehive in Ulverston due to open this autumn. 

In all, M&S plans to close 100 shops by 2022, as announced in May. It says the turnaround is "vital" for its future.

Profits at Marks & Spencer fell by almost two-thirds to £176.4m last year, following a costly business overhaul.

M&S has said the vast majority of the staff working in the stores closed so far have been relocated within the business.

However, it has warned that this will not always be possible and that more redundancies are likely.

Under its plan, M&S wants to move a third of its sales online and plans to have fewer, larger clothing and homeware stores in better locations.

It says it is facing competition from online retailers, as well as discounters such as Aldi, Lidl and Primark.

M&S is attempting to re-shape itself at a time when the High Street is under unprecedented pressure.

Since the start of this year, a number of retailers have collapsed, including Toys R Us, Maplin and Poundworld.