British retail group Marks & Spencer has pulled out of plans to develop a flagship store on the Rokin in central Amsterdam.

The site was first earmarked for the British group when they returned to the Netherlands in 2013 after a 13 year absence. The store had originally been due to open in 2015.

However, on Tuesday it emerged that Canadian department store group Hudson’s Bay Company is taking over the Rokin location for a massive flagship store of its own.

‘We were made an offer we could not refuse,’ a Marks & Spencer spokeswoman told DutchNews.nl.

Asked if this meant Marks & Spencer had dropped plans to open a flagship store in the capital, the spokeswoman said the company remains fully committed to the Netherlands and is ‘always looking for new opportunities’.

In 2013, Marks & Spencer opened a small store on Amsterdam’s Kalverstraat mainly selling food. In 2014, it opened a new three-floor store in the centre of The Hague.

Last year, Marks & Spencer ended its alliance selling food with six BP stations around the country because of poor sales.