MARKS & Spencer is returning to Darlington town centre as a food concession within WHSmith.

As part of a link-up between the two retailers, M&S Simply Food will be available from WHSmith's Darlington store in the Cornmill Shopping Centre from September.

The new convenience offering will include lunch time food as well as ready meals for tea time food.

For the lunch time rush there will be sandwiches, pasta pots and deli items as well as sweets.

And customers will also be able to pick up convenience meals as prepared food for dinner at home.

M&S flowers will be available in the new concession too.

The link-up is part of WHSmith's plans to diversify.

The launch of the range within WHSmith follows the closure of the high street M&S on Northgate in the town centre on August 21.

The convenient grab-and-go range launching in WHSmith will bring a tailored M&S Food offer back to the centre of town with access to the main bus stops.

Andrew Crooks, Head of Region for North-East at Marks & Spencer, said: “How we all shop has changed and, as part of our transformation plan, we’re reshaping our store estate to meet the needs of today’s customers.

"With our long-standing franchise partner, WHSmith, we’re excited to be trialling a tailored food offer from WHSmith Darlington, alongside serving customers from our M&S West Park Darlington Food store.

"At WHSmith Darlington customers will be able to purchase a selection of our lunch and evening meals, as well as bakery items and flowers, and we look forward to hearing their feedback.”