MARKS & Spencer is planning to shut a York store as part of a wider closure scheme nationwide.

The retail giant it was consulting with staff on the proposed closure of its Simply Food store at Monks Cross.

It said that if the proposal went ahead, all 30 colleagues would be guaranteed redeployment at nearby stores such as the big Vangarde store or the city centre site.

"If the proposal goes ahead, the store would close in June and the majority of colleagues would move to the large Clothing, Home and Food store at Vangarde Retail Park, just a few hundred metres away," said a spokeswoman.

Alison Grainger, Head of M&S’ North Division, said that proposing to close the Monks Cross Simply Food store was not a decision it had taken lightly.

"It is now important that we work closely with our colleagues on the consultation and it is our intention that nobody would leave M&S.

“We are committed to delivering the very best of M&S to our customers in York. We have three other popular stores in the city, including our Vangarde store which is only 500 metres from the Monks Cross store.”

The spokeswoman said M&S Vangarde stocked clothing, beauty and home and had a large Foodhall and a 170 seat Café.

"Other near-by stores include M&S York City Centre and the M&S Outlet store at York Designer Outlet.

"The proposed closure of Monks Cross Simply Food is part of M&S’s five-year UK store estate programme announced in November after a full review of its UK store portfolio.

"The plans will improve the M&S store estate to better meet customer needs and include opening 200 new Food-only stores and selling Clothing and Home from 60 fewer locations.

"The result will be more, conveniently located M&S stores but fewer, more inspirational Clothing and Home stores that offer customers better ranging and availability."

M & S orginally planned to close the Simply Food site at Monks Cross when it opened its neighbouring superstore at the Vangarde, however it reversed the decision three years ago in March 2014, based on the popularity of the Monks Cross store, with bosses believing that the shop could sit alongside the larger new store.

M & S is now also proposing to shut full stores at Slough, Portsmouth, Warrington and Wokingham, and a Simply Food store at Worksop.

Chief executive Steve Rowe said: “M&S stores will always be an integral part of our customer offer, working seamlessly alongside our website, M&S.com, to deliver great products and service to our customers.

"However, our customers’ shopping habits are changing. Picking up food for now or tonight rather than doing one big shop or browsing and shopping online and collecting in store are great examples of this and we are committed to adapting our business so that we stay in tune with our customers.

“This means there will be more M&S colleagues working in an increased number of convenient locations, serving more customers.

"It also means that we will open new stores, some will reduce in size, some will move, some will close and others will convert to Food-only.

"Each proposal we make will be very carefully considered with our colleagues and customers firmly front of mind. It is our intention that nobody leaves M&S and we will work as hard as possible to ensure that we can deliver against this promise.”

M&S currently has 959 UK stores – 304 full line stores, 615 Food-only stores and 40 Outlets.