Nine great pictures of Sunderland and Durham Marks and Spencer staff over the years as store faces closure

Sunderland's Marks and Spencers store is in the headlines.

Bosses have confirmed that the High Street West branch will close, as reported in the Sunderland Echo.

It comes as the firm works to open a new 47,000 sq ft store next to the Galleries Retail Park in Washington, as revealed by our newspaper.

The store's workers - from branches across Wearside, have regularly appeared in the paper, from 2003 onwards.

We caught up with them during a beach clean, an awards night, and when they were supporting charity events.

Here are those scenes once more.