Bradford store named among seven Morrisons supermarkets set to close

Earlier this week, Bradford-headquartered Morrisons revealed its plans to close seven supermarkets across the country, putting almost 700 jobs at risk.

The UK’s fourth biggest supermarket has now named the seven stores set to close, with one being the only Morrisons store in the centre of Bradford.

The closure of the supermarket in Bradford’s Westgate will result in the loss of more than 80 jobs.

The stores expected to close over the next several months are:

• Westgate, Bradford, West Yorkshire
• Wigan, Greater Manchester
• Boston, Lincolnshire
• Stowmarket, Suffolk
• Braintree, Essex
• Tunbridge Wells, Kent
• Hounslow, west London

680 jobs will be lost due to theses closures, which were announced despite Morrisons beating expectations andreporting an increase in sales over the Christmas period.

The supermarket chain reported a 0.2% increase in like-for-like sales during the nine weeks ending on January 3rd. It also claimed customers were beginning to return to its stores, with the like-for-like number of transactions up 1.3% over the Christmas period in its core supermarkets.

David Potts, Chief Executive, said at the time: “We are pleased with our improved trading performance over the Christmas period. While there is of course much more to do, we are making important progress in improving all aspects of the shopping trip, and our customers tell us they are pleased with the changes.

“In addition, we have made further progress in debt reduction, and our financial position is strong and getting stronger.”

However, these latest cuts also follow on from Morrisons closing 11 stores back in September 2015, putting around 900 jobs at risk.

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