Company with £800k unpaid debt linked with new management of former M&S store

The former M&S store on Weston-super-Mare High St, is linked with the same people behind a pop-up market that was operating out of a former department store in Cheltenham which wracked up over £800,000 of unpaid bills.

Some social media pages have seen vague adverts by an anonymous person advertising small spaces to rent within the premises. It is unclear at this time if the store has been purchased or leased by the new management from Marks & Spencer who own the site.

An advert for spaces to rent at the site has been posted on social media (Photo: Facebook)

Weston Independent News has identified that the new management for the premises was seemingly behind a pop-up market inside Cheltenham's historic Cavendish House which closed in January 2026, with traders required to vacate to allow for redevelopment.

The link between the two is a telephone number that has been advertising space for rent at the M&S site in recent days on social media, being the same telephone number that also advertised space for rent at the former John Lewis site in Cheltenham.

The contact number being advertised regarding space for rent at the former M&S site is the same number that was advertised for Cavendish House in Cheltenham. (Photo: Facebook)

Cavendish House in Cheltenham was rented by Stanbury Estates Ltd, however, in September 2025, just months before the site was closed by the company, reports emerged of over £800,000 of unpaid debt by Stanbury Estates Ltd.

Reporting last year by Gloucestershire's "Punchline" stated that the company, which has a PO Box address in Cardiff, began renting the site in Cheltenham and sub-letting it to small local businesses. Seemingly the same plans for the former M&S site in Weston-super-Mare.

Punchline detailed that most traders paid rent cash-in-hand to a security guard, inclusive of bills, and had no way of contacting Stanbury Estates directly. Others transferred money to a company called GB Birmingham.

At the time Punchline reported that it was not clear who exactly was running the Cheltenham site and when the tenancy by Stanbury Estates Ltd ended.

Many local people had hoped for the return of Marks & Spencer to the site which the company have repeatedly ruled out.

Weston Independent News has contacted the new management and Marks & Spencer for a statement regarding who the new management is and their plans for the site.