Morrisons has announced UK wide closures as part of its continued transformation plan under boss Rami Baitieh.

The major overhaul of store operations will mean the closure of 52 cafes, all 18 market kitchens, 17 convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies.

It said the majority of impacted employees are expected to be moved into other roles, but that 365 workers are at risk of redundancy.

New boss Baitieh expressed the retailer’s commitment to Market Street, but explained these are “necessary changes” to areas of the model which are “simply uneconomic”.

Mr Baitieh 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.

“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.”

He added that they will work with third parties to provide a “relevant specialist offer” in some stores where counters or cafes will be closed.  

Referring to the impacted employees, he noted: “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.”

It is understood the upcoming National Insurance Contributions will add around £75million to the retailer’s costs, which Baitiéh said “adds insult to injury”. 

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