The wait is nearly over: M&S Abingdon

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I don’t think it would be overstating it to say that the people of Abingdon and neighbouring villages have been waiting for this day for months.

Store Manager Paddy Sunderland, who has been with Marks & Spencer for over six years, said on the official M&S website: “We cannot wait to open our brand-new store in the heart of Oxfordshire.”

The waiting is nearly over. The opening date is Wednesday 22nd April 2026 at 8 am. So be there at 7:50 am to see the doors open for the first time and perhaps get a picture of the 75 staff and the ribbon cutting.

This 18,000 square foot M&S Foodhall at Fairacres Retail Park stands on the site of the former Homebase. Where there were once fitted bathrooms and lawn mowers, there will rotisserie chickens and strawberries.

Much of the fresh produce will come from M&S Select Farm partners, with over 60 based in Oxfordshire.

A Click & Collect point will allow shoppers to pick up online orders, including fashion items. There will also be free Wi-Fi and a coffee shop, according to the M&S store page https://www.marksandspencer.com/stores/abingdon-fairacres-7778.

The store will be open 8am–9pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am–4pm on Sundays. The opening has also created around 75 jobs, many of them local.

And what of the public reaction?
‘Can’t wait’
‘We will be there’

There are the usual local questions:
‘Traffic queues?’
‘Effect on town centre shops?’

By Wednesday morning, the doors will open, the wait will be over, and we will know.

A34 Lodge Hill Junction Near Abingdon Taking Shape

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Work continues on the major redesign of the A34 junction at Abingdon, a project aimed at adding new roundabouts to support new south facing slip roads. Up to now there have only been north facing slip roads.

The temporary junction from Abingdon onto the A34 towards Oxford — which until recently gave priority to right-turning traffic over vehicles going straight ahead — is now starting to look more normal. With two thirds of one of the new roundabouts complete, traffic from Abingdon is now being guided around it before joining the A34 slip road.

The second of the two new roundabouts is roughly halfway finished, although it is not yet in use.

Looking towards where the new slip road from the south will run, warning signs are in place advising against trespass. One sign identifies the area as the ‘Moortown Working Area.’

At the site of the future southbound on-slip, the churned-up eath is beginning to take shape, with the base layer of a new roadway now visible.

Once complete, the scheme should improve traffic in Abingdon town centre and round the inner ring road by improving access onto the A34.

Flats Proposed for Former Barclays Building in the Square

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A planning application (P26/V0517/FUL) has been submitted for the former Barclays Bank building at No. 2 The Square in Abingdon, together with redevelopment of the buildings behind.

The proposal would convert the existing ground, first and second floors into eight flats (seven one-bedroom and one two-bedroom). It also includes the demolition of the historic Baileys shoe repairs behind, to be replaced with a new two-storey building providing four additional units (three one-bedroom flats and one one-bedroom unit with a loft space).

No. 2 The Square is a Grade II listed building, while the buildings behind are of later construction but could be treated as listed by association.

The building was decommissioned in March 2024 under an earlier planning approval (P24/V0109/FUL), allowing the removal of banking fixtures such as the ATM. However, from my reading, it remained within commercial use rather than changing to residential use.

This latest application therefore seeks permission to change the use to residential, along with the physical changes together with the demolition and rebuild of buildings behind.

Bluebells at Radley Large Wood

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Radley Large Wood is putting on a glorious display this April. Carpets of bluebells stretch through the trees, alongside a variety of other wild flowers — Wood Anemone, Primrose, Ramsons (Wild Garlic), Lesser Celandine, Greater Stitchwort, and Pink Campion. There’s also the birdsong to enjoy.

But it is the bluebells — their colour and scent — that make this a special time of year to walk through the wood.

There are a few parking places along Sugworth Lane, but the wood is also easily reached by bike from Abingdon or foot from Kennington or Lodge Hill. If you can’t make it in person, here’s a short video to give you an idea of how it looks.