New M&S cafe could have al fresco seafront seating

Monday 11 June 2018

Today Marks & Spencers will apply for an al fresco licence before Guernsey's Royal Court, as it wishes to put five tables in front of its High Street food hall.

The Guernsey franchise supermarket is currently installing an M&S brand cafe in what was previously its food hall on the seafront, where the checkouts used to be located.

The Al Fresco dining area will be part of that, if the Court approves the application.

Ian McLaughlin, the Director of the Marks and Spencer franchise in Guernsey, said the cafe will serve food and hot and cold drinks.

"The idea is that we are opening a 26 seat cafe that will hopefully have an outside area - the al fresco part will have five tables on the pavement outside the front of the shop," he said. "It will be an M&S cafe, and the outside tables will be out during the day and brought in in the evening."

The application asked for permission for the tables to be out between 07:30 and 21:30 Monday to Sunday.

If all continues to plan Mr McLaughlin said they were aiming to open the cafe in the second week of July.

Currently, the food hall has been undergoing a period of redesign and refurbishment, where self checkout machines have been installed and the layout changed - this was planned to accommodate the cafe.