M&S occupied this building until just May 2019 when it was one of 100 shops in the UK destined to go as part of a nationwide closure plan. It was right at the hub of the pedestrianised shopping area in our town. Marks & Spencer's first presence in Bedford was a penny bazaar market stall which opened in 1906. Its loss was a severe blow to a lot of people.
I had in mind to run a short series on the demise of the high street, when the week of black and white with an architectural theme came up in the flash of red challenge.
I have found it difficult to take any of these buildings in an interesting way. They are, after all, just shop fronts with very little remarkable about them except for the story that together they tell.
