Marks & Spencer Foodhall

Marks & Spencer Foodhall is the retailer's food-only store on Southampton Street, the short link between the Strand and Covent Garden Piazza. It opens from 7am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and noon to 6pm on Sunday, with browsing from 11.45am, and it is one of the compact M&S Food formats the company has opened in busy central locations to serve commuters, visitors and nearby residents.

Marks & Spencer has sold food since the 1930s and built its reputation on own-label quality, from the chilled ready meals and sandwiches that made its name to a wine range selected in-house. The Southampton Street store carries that offer in a form arranged for speed: the departments listed for the branch are bakery, cards and wrap, flowers and plants, food, food on the move, a food order collection desk and wine. Facilities include free Wi-Fi, a Click and Collect self-service kiosk, a returns kiosk and flower and plant ordering.

M&S Food in Covent Garden

The food to go section is the draw at lunchtime, with sandwiches, salads and hot drinks, while the chilled aisles cover everything for an evening meal back at a hotel or apartment. Fresh produce, bakery and the M&S wine selection round it out, and the flower counter is handy for a gift on the way to dinner. As a Covent Garden food shop it is the most complete supermarket option within a minute of the Piazza.

What to expect on a visit

Expect queues at lunchtime and in the early evening; the self-service kiosks keep them moving. Covent Garden station is a few minutes north, Charing Cross a few minutes west along the Strand. For an independent deli or corner shop rather than a supermarket, the list of convenience stores and food shops in Covent Garden covers the district's smaller shops, and Kipps Deli on Endell Street is the late-night option in Seven Dials.