John Lewis reveals opening date of its 51st store

John Lewis has announced it will be opening its Cheltenham store – the 51st in its store estate – on 18 October and Martin Bundy has been appointed as store manager.

The department store partnership has invested £23m in the 115,000 sq ft store which will offer fashion, homewares, technology products and services.

Bundy has been a John Lewis partner for 18 years having joined as a shop floor assistant in Southsea and moving on to hold senior positions at stores in Southampton, Bluewater and Newbury. He has latterly been store manager at the Chichester branch.

"I'm very proud to be given this great opportunity and excited to show the people of Cheltenham our new shop. Before we open we have a lot to do. As well as getting the shop ready we will recruit and train hundreds of new Partners ready to deliver outstanding customer service," he said of his appointment.

Last month John Lewis opened its 50th store at the extension of the Westfield London supermall in White City. At 230,000 sq ft, the Westfield store is twice the size of Cheltenham store and is John Lewis's most experiential store to date featuring a range of events and experiences and the store's first Style Studio, where men and women can take part in style consultations and personal styling experiences.