A new out-of-town Marks & Spencer Simply Food store is to open on the Oxford Ring Road this summer.

Anna Corfield, a spokeman for M&S, said they had just exchanged contracts for the new store in Cowley.

It is expected to open in mid-summer, in the former Brantano shoe store, next to Mothercare and Next.

Ms Corfield said: "We have exchanged contracts, but I can't give you any more information."

Last year, shoppers in Bicester queued for up to an hour for the opening of a new Simply Food store in Sheep Street.

M&S is also expanding its existing Simply Food store in Summertown, where the redesign - to be completed in late spring - will include an 'Espresso' coffee bar and a wider range of food and drink.

The Summertown outlet, one of the company's first Simply Food stores when it opened in 2002, is to have 20 per cent more space.

Ms Corfield said: "The work will be done while the store is trading and will not affect customers."

The new Cowley store will offer up to 2,000 Marks & Spencer food lines, including ready meals, fresh produce, sandwiches, wine, flowers and basic groceries plus a selection of cards and hosiery.

The retail park, built on a former British Leyland car factory storage site, also contains Oxford's biggest Tesco superstore.

Traffic was jammed up to the ring road last month when a new Lidl supermarket opened just aroud the corner in Garsington Road.

Marks & Spencer announced last year it was to triple the size of its Simply Food chain, with ambitious plans to open in-store restaurants, hot takeaway counters and deli bars, as well as 24-hour cafes.

The Bicester town centre store was one of 27 acquired last year from Iceland.

Chief executive Stuart Rose outlined plans in November to extend the Simply Food chain from 187 outlets to 400 and to open another 200 small Simply Food outlets on BP petrol forecourts.

M&S's Cafe Revive chain of in-store coffee bars is already the UK's third biggest.