The news that Marks and Spencer is to press ahead with its plan to close a quarter of its largest stores in Britain over the next four years has set alarm bells ringing in Ipswich.

There are fears that the Westgate Street store in the town centre could be one of those targeted - which would be a hammer blow for the town after the departures of BHS and Debenhams over the last six years.

It is one of three town centre stores left in Suffolk - the others are at Bury St Edmunds and Lowestoft - and the company is understood to want to replace it with another Simply Food store on the western side of town to complement its Martlesham Heath store.

That would follow the example of Colchester where the town centre store closed last month, replaced by an out-of-town store selling food and clothing at the Stane Retail Park at Stanway just off the A12.

The company has been looking for a site to the west of Ipswich for a similar store, enabling it to close the town centre site.

Its interest in the former Toys R Us store at the Exchange Retail Park at Copdock prompted the council-owned Ipswich Borough Assets property company to buy that retail warehouse in a bid to frustrate the M&S plan to replace its town centre store.

However now it has confirmed it wants to close 67 of its remaining 250 large stores while opening a further 104 Simply Food outlets.

It is understood that the company has not been in touch with Ipswich council or any other bodies to discuss the future of the town centre store - but there is continued concern about its long-term presence.

The Bury St Edmunds store is not thought to be under such a great threat as Ipswich - the West Suffolk town has become something of a retail magnet for people from a wide area and M&S is seen as a major attraction in the town centre.

The Lowestoft store is thought to have picked up some shoppers when the Great Yarmouth town centre store shut - although a Simply Food store did open on a retail park at the Norfolk town.