M&S Food at Riverside Retail Park opened on 21 October: opening times for every day, what the store sells, Christmas food collection and the Lumbertubs signals.

Marks and Spencer’s new food store at Riverside Retail Park opened on Wednesday 21 October. It is in part of the old Homebase building, which has stood empty since Homebase left in autumn 2024.

The store is open 8am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday, according to M&S’s own store page. The address is Unit A1, Riverside Retail Park, Northampton NN3 9HU, and the store’s phone number is 01604 279 549.

M&S Riverside opening times

M&S Riverside in Northampton opens 8am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday. On Sundays the doors open at 9.45am so you can browse, but the tills do not start until 10am, because of Sunday trading law. These are the times M&S lists for the next fortnight, checked on 2 November 2026:

Day Opening times
Monday to Saturday 8am to 9pm
Sunday 10am to 4pm (browsing from 9.45am)

Bonfire week runs to the normal pattern, including Thursday 5 November. M&S had not published Christmas or New Year hours for Riverside when we checked; its store page only lists the next 14 days, so they will show there from mid-December.

The store is at Unit A1, Riverside Retail Park, Northampton NN3 9HU, and M&S lists car parking among its facilities. Phone 01604 279 549.

What is in the store

M&S lists these departments at Riverside:

  • food, with a bakery and food on the move
  • wine, with wine ordering
  • flowers and plants
  • cards and wrap
  • a food order collection desk, which is where pre-ordered Christmas food is picked up

It also has a click and collect kiosk, a returns kiosk, click and collect travel money, free wi-fi, toilets and car parking. It is a food hall only: M&S does not list clothing or home departments at this branch. The other Northampton entries on M&S’s store listing are smaller shops at Northampton General Hospital and at BP filling stations on Abington Avenue and Upton Way.

How it got planning permission

West Northamptonshire Council’s planning committee approved the store on 19 March 2026, following its officers’ recommendation. The committee report for application 2024/2747/FULL sets out what was decided:

  • the old Homebase unit is split in two, with M&S Food in one half; an earlier permission in October 2024 allowed Wickes to take the other half
  • the retail park’s 1993 permission banned food sales, so the change needed the goods rules widened
  • food can be sold from no more than 1,635 square metres of the M&S unit, with a small share of non-food goods and an in-store café allowed
  • the applicant, Riverside Retail Limited, said the store was expected to create 70 jobs

The council received 108 comments, and 106 supported the plan. The one objection came from planning consultants acting for the Tesco Extra at Weston Favell. They argued the store would take trade from Weston Favell and that M&S should have gone into the empty Sainsbury’s unit in the Grosvenor Centre.

Officers disagreed. The council’s retail consultant estimated the store would take 2.4% of the Tesco Extra’s trade and 2.1% from the Lidl on Octagon Way, and found Weston Favell a “healthy centre” that could absorb that. The report accepted that the former Sainsbury’s unit was not commercially viable for M&S.

The Lumbertubs traffic signals

Traffic was the reason the application took so long. The council’s highways team found that without changes the extra traffic would have a “severe” effect at peak times. The worst of it would fall on the Ferris Row approach to the Lumbertubs interchange, where the A43 meets the A45, and which the report says already runs “at or over capacity” with notable queuing.

The fix agreed with National Highways is a full upgrade of the interchange’s traffic signals to MOVA, a system that adjusts signal timings to the traffic actually waiting. The recommended condition required a detailed design for the upgrade to be submitted for approval before the store opened, and the new signals to be working within six months of M&S starting to trade. With the store opening on 21 October, that points to April 2027.

The committee’s printed decision approved the scheme “subject to various requirements to be set out in the minutes”. So the final wording of the conditions may differ slightly from the report.

What it means for you

  • This is the only M&S on the company’s Northampton listing that is a full food hall rather than a hospital or filling-station shop.
  • Expect busier roads around Riverside and Lumbertubs in the first weeks, especially on Saturdays and in the run-up to Christmas, until the new signals are in.
  • Christmas food orders can be collected at this store, which has its own collection desk.
  • Our roadworks and travel page will carry the Lumbertubs signal works when the council or National Highways lists them.

Frequently asked questions

What time does M&S Riverside Northampton open?

8am on Monday to Saturday, closing at 9pm. On Sunday it is 10am to 4pm, with the doors open from 9.45am for browsing.

When did M&S Riverside open?

Wednesday 21 October 2026, in part of the former Homebase unit at Riverside Retail Park.

Does M&S Riverside sell clothes?

No. It is a food hall. M&S lists food, a bakery, wine, flowers and plants, and cards and wrap, plus click and collect and returns kiosks, but no clothing or home departments.

Is there a café at M&S Riverside?

M&S does not list a café among the store’s departments. The planning permission allows one inside the unit, but none is advertised.

Can I collect M&S Christmas food at Riverside?

Yes. The store has a food order collection desk, which is where pre-ordered Christmas food is picked up.

Sources