A POPULAR retailer is set to increase the size of its workforce with the opening of its new food hall in Clacton.

As Marks and Spencer gets ready to open its latest new store, the team in Clacton has been busy recruiting in the area with the store already creating more than 50 new jobs to support the new 15,500 sq ft food hall.

Since embarking on its recruitment needs a few months ago, the team has received hundreds of applications and has also worked with job centres and employability partners through its Marks and Start scheme that is run in partnership with The Prince’s Trust to help young people aged 16 to 30 find employment.

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Store manager Tim Norton has been busy recruiting for positions across the store from customer assistants and bakers to visual merchandisers and operations roles ahead of the opening later this year.

As well as creating 50 new jobs, the new-look M&S Foodhall store represents a significant investment and follows the retailer’s recent announcement that it plans to invest £500 million in its store rotation programme, creating over 3,400 new jobs nationwide.

Mr Norton said: "Our community is at the heart of M&S, so to be able to create new job opportunities for residents is truly fantastic.

"We are working closely with job centres and employability schemes to find and train the best applicants from the area for the wide variety of roles that are available, including bakers, and customer assistants.

"We have identified some great candidates, and we can't wait for the community to meet them when we open the doors later this year."

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The brand-new M&S Foodhall at Clacton's Brook Park is expected to open this autumn.

The new  food hall will offer a fresh market style design and fresh displays with products from M&S select farms.

It will also include a bakery with fresh daily-baked bread and pastries.

For more information, visit marksandspencer.com.