Residents of Levenshulme got all excited over the weekend after signs were spotted which seemed to suggest the area was getting a brand new M&S food store. The signs were posted to the Levy Massive Facebook community page to much chatter.
“It's true. Levy is truly moving on up,” said the poster Collette Williams. “We're getting an M&S! OMG we're so posh! Jobs going.” It all seemed reasonably legit, with the M&S Food logo proudly printed at the top.
The poster was spotted on the corner of Albert Road and Stockport Road, on the former site of the Dice Lounge bar, which is being renovated. It reads ‘become part of something special, new store opening in Levenshulme’.
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However, suspicions were soon raised with spelling of ‘roles’ - which is spelled ‘rolls’ on the poster, before listing vacancies for ‘bakery, cafe and store colleagues’ ranging from 16 hours a week to 34 hours.
Anyone interested in a role - or roll - was directed to the Marks and Spencer jobs site, but a quick search for Levenshulme throws up no search results. It didn’t stop some from getting into the idea of a smart new supermarket for the area.
“Amazing! I'm walking distance from there,” said one member of the Facebook group.
But the retail giant soon crushed the rumour, replying to a message inquiring about the plans: “Hi there, thanks for getting in touch with us! This doesn't look to be something issued by ourselves so we'd advise disregarding this in this instance, but our thanks for making us aware.
“If you might be interested in joining us, you'll be able to find all our career opportunities by visiting jobs.marksandspencer.com."
Once the jig was up, others weighed in on the comments. One poster wrote: “It’s just a bad joke about the gentrification of the area. No doubt it’ll be another high cash flow business like many others on Stockport Road.
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“Give it ten years and they’ll probably be a Waitrose on Stockport Rd and these sort of jokes will be made in places like Harpurhey. Manchester is changing faster than anytime during the 20 odd years I’ve lived here. Some of its for the better and some of it aint but that’s living in a city for you.”
M&S is expanding its food offering, however. A recent Food Hall opening in Stockport resulted in huge queues and shoppers waiting from 7am for the new branch at the Peel Centre to open last month.
The retailer recently announced that it plans to invest £500m in its store rotation programme, creating over 3,400 new jobs nationwide.
