Marks & Spencer closes down in Spain, France

Spansih and French employees cried treason and shoppers despaired yesterday after the ailing British retail chain Marks & Spencer announced it was closing its clothing and food shops across continental Europe. “England has betrayed us,” cried Patricia Ogoubiyi, director of food at the chain's French flagship -the first to open in France in 1975 - in the heart of Paris's department store district on Boulevard Haussmann. “We heard the news this morning and many of us broke down and cried. We never thought it would happen,” she told reporters outside the store, following an impromptu walk-out by staff.