Posh and easy through the decades: A history of how M&S wooed us all

LAST week, Marks & Spencer announced that it is to close 100 stores by 2022. In a world of fast fashion and sophisticated budget supermarkets, the one-time favourite of the British middle classes is on the slide. But really what is remarkable about Marks & Spencer is that it has been so successful for so long, and said so much about who we are as a nation. One of its biggest-sellers, the prawn sandwich, tells us everything about what it has represented, and drawn us in with for so many decades. For, bundled up in those slices of bread, is a message of convenience, modernity and aspiration. It’s long been about those things that have made our lives easier, but also made us feel that little bit posher. The story of that sandwich, as well as many other technological innovations, is told in this, our guide to Marks & Spencer through the ages – what it’s brought us, what it’s meant to us, and how it’s changed us. . http://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/16252706.Posh_and_easy_through_the_decades__A_history_of_how_M_S_wooed_us_all/