Morrisons is set to close 52 cafés, all 18 of its Market Kitchens, 17 convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters, and four pharmacies as part of a major operational shake-up.

The closures come as the supermarket enters the second year of its renewal programme, aimed at boosting growth, optimising operations, and offsetting rising costs.

A wide-ranging review of the business identified areas where operational costs were significantly out of line with usage, volumes, or the value customers placed on them.

The announcement follows Morrisons’ recent plans to relaunch its Market Street proposition as part of a wider overhaul of the supermarket’s trading team, unveiled last week.

While most affected staff members are expected to be redeployed to suitable roles within the business, approximately 365 employees face the risk of redundancy.

CEO Rami 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 explained while Market Street was a “beacon of differentiation” for the supermarket which it remained “committed” to, it was making some “necessary changes to the areas of the model which are simply uneconomic” as it modernised.

The grocery boss said: “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.”

Morrisons has been pushing ahead with its turnaround efforts in recent times, with the company confirming that it had slashed its debt burden by almost 40% in November.

In January, the supermarket reported its strongest quarter since the start of 2021, with Baitiéh noting it had made “positive progressive”.

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