The supermarket will also close down all of the 18 food court ‘Market Kitchens’, as well as 17 ‘Morrisons Daily’ convenience stores and 13 florists.
Additionally, it announced that there would be a closure of 35 meat counters, with the same number of fish counters also shutting down. Four pharmacies will stop operating too, although the precise dates of the closures have not been confirmed.
Morrisons staff affected by the cutbacks will either transfer to other suitable roles in the business or face redundancy.
There are 497 supermarkets in the UK, where 100,000 staff are employed, and there are 1,600 of the retail giant’s convenience stores. Last year, 1,000 Morrisons staff went on strike after a dispute over their pension contributions.
The decision to scale back operations is “the only sensible option” for the cafes being closed in some areas, according to Rami Baitiéh, Morrisons’ chief executive.
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‘Necessary part of our plans’
Baitiéh said: “The changes we are announcing today are a necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons and enable us to focus our investment into the areas that customers really value and that can play a full part in our growth.
“Morrisons Cafés are rightly famous for their great quality, well-priced food, their place in the local community and their appealing mix of traditional favourites alongside exciting new dishes. In most locations, the Morrisons Café has a bright future, but a minority have specific local challenges and in those locations, regrettably, closure and re-allocation of the space is the only sensible option.”
Baitiéh added: “Market Street is a beacon of differentiation for Morrisons, and we remain committed to it. But as we modernise, we are making some necessary changes to the areas of the model [that] are simply uneconomic. In some stores where we are closing counters or Cafés, we plan to work with third parties to provide a relevant specialist offer.
“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. We will, of course, take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes.”
The 52 cafes and convenience stores to close are as follows:
Cafes
| Bradford Thornbury | Paisley Falside Rd |
| London Queensbury | Portsmouth |
| Great Park | Banchory North Deeside Rd |
| Failsworth Poplar Street | Blackburn Railway Road |
| Leeds Swinnow Rd | London Wood Green |
| Kirkham Poulton St | Lutterworth Bitteswell Rd |
| Stirchley | Leeds Horsforth |
| London Erith | Crowborough |
| Bellshill John St | Dumbarton Glasgow Rd |
| East Kilbride Lindsayfield | East Kilbride Stewartfield |
| Glasgow Newlands | Largs Irvine Rd |
| Troon Academy St | Wishaw Kirk Rd |
| Newcastle UT Cowgate | Northampton Kettering Road |
| Bromsgrove Buntsford Ind Pk | Solihull Warwick Rd |
| Brecon Free St | Caernarfon North Rd |
| Hadleigh | London – Harrow – Hatch End |
| High Wycombe Temple End | Leighton Buzzard Lake St |
| London Stratford | Sidcup Westwood Lane |
| Welwyn Garden City Black Fan Rd | Warminster Weymouth St |
| Oxted Station Yard | Reigate Bell St |
| Borehamwood | Weybridge – Monument Hill |
| Bathgate | Erskine Bridgewater SC |
| Gorleston Blackwell Road | Connah’s Quay |
| Mansfield Woodhouse | Elland |
| Gloucester – Metz Way | Watford – Ascot Road |
| Littlehampton – Wick | Helensburgh |
Convenience stores
| Gorleston Lowestoft Road | Peebles 3-5 Old Town |
| Shenfield 214 Hutton Road | Poole Waterloo Estate |
| Tonbridge Higham Lane Est | Romsey The Cornmarket |
| Stewarton Lainshaw Street | Selsdon Featherbed Lane |
| Haxby Village | Great Barr Queslett Road |
| Whickham Oakfield Road | Worle |
| Goring-By-Sea Strand Para | Woking Westfield Road |
| Wokingham 40 Peach Street | Exeter 51 Sidwell Street |
| Bath Moorland Road |
