MORRISONS has said it will shut 52 in-store cafes along with some of its convenience stores, florists, meat and fish counters and pharmacies.

The supermarket said the closures are part of a shake-up which will result in 365 people facing redundancy.

Eighteen market kitchens, 17 convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies will also be affected.

No cafes in Essex will shut as a result of the announcement, however, the Morrisons Daily convenience store at 214 Hutton Road, in Shenfield, is on the list of shops to close.

 

The supermarket chain said it was costing more to run the services than it was making from customer spending.

The majority of staff members affected by the changes, which will be made over the next few months, are expected to be deployed to roles elsewhere in the business, Morrisons said.

But there will be a total of around 365 employees at risk of redundancy.

Rami Baitieh, Morrisons’ chief executive, said the changes were a “necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate” the chain and invest in areas that “customers really value”.

“Although these changes are relatively small in the context of the overall scale of the Morrisons business, we do not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they will cause to some of our colleagues,” he said.

“We will of course take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes.”

Morrisons is the UK’s fifth largest supermarket, according to data supplied by analysts Kantar, and hires around 95,000 staff across the country.