Expats in Paris who hanker after the odd British home comfort had their prayers answered last month when a household UK high street chain reopened a store on France’s most famous street, having shut down 10 years ago.

 

Shoppers on the Champs-Elysée can now pop into Marks and Spencer’s to pick up some new underwear or choose from the selection of tasty British treats on offer, including shortbread, crumpets and Earl Grey tea. Queues formed outside the new store on its first day of opening at the end of November and after just 90 minutes of opening its doors the sausages and chocolate chip cookies had sold out.

Immensely popular with both the French and British, Marks and Spencer has plans for three further stores in selected malls in Paris, as well as a string of Simply Food convenience stores. More stores will be rolled out outside of Paris too and the company has set up a dedicated French website that promises to ship M&S fashions to any address in France within 48 hours.

If you’re planning on buying property in France, and need to transfer a large sum of money, remember to use a currency specialist to exchange your pounds into euros. For more information, contact Smart Currency Exchange.

To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in France, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘France Property Buying Guide’