Morrisons supermarket café in Kirkham will close as business looks to cut costs

A supermarket café in Kirkham will be one of many services to face the axe as Morrisons bids to cut costs nationwide.

The closure of the café, at Poulton Street in Kirkham, is one of 69 closures that includes various counters, pharmacies and daily branches and ultimately sees 365 people placed at risk of redundancy.

Rami Baitiéh, chief executive of Morrisons, said he believed the change was necessary to allow for reinvestment in other areas.

He said: “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.

“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 which 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 café at the Blackburn Morrisons supermarket will also close.

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