In the week when Marks & Spencer scooped the Retail Week Interiors award for best in-store catering and hospitality for its restaurant in Newcastle, it’s worth noting what the retailer has done at its Dublin flagship.

This historic store, on Grafton Street, is the kind of place where you can’t help looking at the faux-Greek columns dotted around the ground floor, but where the real highlight is reserved for those riding the escalator to the top of the shop.


A new restaurant sits there that – though it is part of a mass-market retailer – would give even the Irish capital’s grandest eateries a run for their money. On sunny days, visitors will gravitate automatically to the roof terrace, where a glass-sided balcony affords views of the street, but during less clement interludes there is still a stunning interior.


This is a space where you can go and eat in hyper-modern, minimalist surroundings – where the grey floor sets off the bright white colour scheme – and still have change from a tenner if you eat and drink carefully.


Given that downtown Dublin is on a par with London for price, this must be an obvious destination for hungry shoppers and even those who haven’t shopped at M&S. During its store modernisation programme, M&S has shown how upscale eating and mid-market shopping do not have to be mutually exclusive. That said, this is one of the retailer’s finest.


- Full Retail Interiors Awards coverage next week

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