M&S is among the supermarkets that are changing with the times, and part of that is the closure of many of its in-store cafes. The move comes as the British retailer aims to expand its M&S Food offering, introducing more products and aiming to make the chain a go-to destination for more Britons' weekly shopping. The latest cafe slated to close is the M&S cafe in Barn Road, Congleton, Cheshire.

The cafe is closing to make way for more products. Marks and Spencer isn't the only supermarket to make such moves. Morrisons also closed a slew of in-store services, such as florists and cafes. Last year, Sainsbury's also closed a number of its in-store cafes across the country. The date of the Congleton cafe closure has not yet been confirmed. M&S has also confirmed that the cafe inside its foodhall store in Westbridge Park, in Stone, Staffordshire, will close its doors, with no final date confirmed.

M&S regional manager Katie Whelan said of the Congleton closure: "We know many of our customers want to be able to shop a wider range of M&S Food.

"That's why, after reviewing our Congleton store, we are re-purposing the café space in-store to provide more product choice and improve the shopping experience. We understand this will be disappointing news for some of our customers; however, our teams will continue working hard to serve them in-store."

Of the stone closure, David Hughes, Regional Manager at M&S, said: "As we look to modernise our food business and offer the best of M&S Food to more people, more often, we're investing in our store estate."

The M&S cafes that have closed or are set to close are:

• Crawley, West Sussex


• Dunblane, Stirling, Scotland


• Congleton, Cheshire


• Stone, Staffordshire


• Anlaby, East Riding of Yorkshire


• Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire


• Martlesham Heath, Ipswich


• Bidston Moss


• Bishop Auckland


• South Aylesford, Kent


• Strood Retail Park, Kent


• Whitstable, Kent


• Canterbury, Kent


• Sittingbourne Retail Park

However, M&S has ambitious expansion plans in a bid to bring its food offering to more shoppers across the country. The British retailer, which already has more than 1,000 stores across the country, recently revealed the 500 areas where it aims to open over the next few years.

It includes hundreds of new stores across England, as well as a slew of M&S Food stores in Scotland and Wales. The strong performance of our new M&S food stores gives us the confidence to explore even more locations across the UK, from Elgin to Exmouth," said M&S Managing Director Alex Freudmann.

He continued: "With more than twenty stores opening or modernised before the end of the financial year, we are moving faster. Our team want new sites where we could open a large M&S Food store as we deliver on our strategy to bring the right stores to the right places and offer the best shopping experience, range and availability for our customers."

It has also revamped several of its existing stores across the country. Retail experts have revealed that supermarkets will be putting more focus on value for money and own-label products, which is indeed the case with M&S.

The supermarket has introduced more affordable options on supermarket shelves as it plans its ambitious expansion across the country.