Primark says it is going to reintroduce fitting rooms just for women after growing backlash over its unisex changing areas.

The clothing chain says it has decided to bring back 'a dedicated fitting room area for women' in the majority of stores within weeks.

The move follows a growing number of complaints by female customers, particularly on social media, who say they have felt uncomfortable, or been disturbed, while changing in Primark's unisex cubicles that are separated by curtains rather than locked doors.

Primark, which has stores across Kent, says the new dedicated women-only fitting rooms are to be put into 187 of its 191 stores in the UK. Customers will not be required to provide any identification to use them.

The existing combined fitting room spaces for everyone to use, will remain - says the company - but that set-ups will vary depending on each individual store's available space and layout.

In a statement on its company website under the heading 'Important changes to our fitting rooms in the UK' Primark said: "We want our stores to be places where everyone feels safe and welcome.

"We’re sorry to hear this hasn’t been the experience some people have reported in our fitting rooms.

"We’ve listened to feedback from our customers and colleagues and you’ll start to see changes in our UK stores in the coming weeks."

Alongside a women-only changing area Primark says it will also be making its cubicles more secure. This will include introducing longer curtains as well as a new mechanism that will hold those curtains firmly in place to further protect the privacy of customers.

Colleague training, it says, will also be refreshed to ensure teams 'have everything they need' to manage the fitting rooms properly and support customers who are using them.

The statement added: "It’s really important to us that everyone has a positive experience in our stores. If they don’t, we are committed to doing all we can to make things better.

"We’ll be monitoring these changes closely and continuing to listen to our customers and colleagues."

In the four remaining stores, that only have one changing area space, Primark says it is exploring all other options. It remains unclear where in the country these four shops are located.