Ex-M&S executive Richard Bennett is the new Spar retail director.

He started at M&S, aged 18, as a trainee store manager and stayed with the company for 18 years. In that time he worked as country manager for M&S in Greece as well as at the company’s flagship Marble Arch store in London. More recently he led the retail team responsible for M&S Simply Food stores in central London.

Spar managing director Jerry Marwood said: “Richard has enjoyed a successful and wide-ranging career with one of the world’s leading retailers and, most important, he has a great deal of experience of retailing at the sharp end.”