The café inside Marks & Spencer Bolton will close on Saturday April 1, a fortnight before the shutters are scheduled to descend on the Deansgate store for the final time.

Printed boards on the walls and entrance to the third-floor dining area confirm that next weekend will see staff serve up the last pots of tea, coffees and cakes for customers and passers-by.

The closure of the café comes two weeks before that of the main store on Saturday April 15.

The company cited “changing shopping habits”, while other branches around the country have also been threatened with closure.

The Bolton News:

M&S regional manager Ben Heaps said at the time of the announcement: “Shopping habits are changing, so we’re rotating our store estate to make sure we have the right stores to offer customers a brilliant shopping experience.

“As part of this transformation, we have today announced to colleagues our proposal to close our M&S Bolton store at 35 Deansgate.”

He added: “Our priority now is to talk to our colleagues about what this announcement means for them and wherever possible, offer them alternative roles with M&S.”

In all, the company is said to be considering closing around a quarter of its branches all around the country.

M&S has said that it will continue to run branches at the Rock shopping centre in Bury and at Middlebrook Retail Park, which the company hopes will be accessible to customers in Bolton.