Shropshire's last Sainsbury's cafe set to close as company announces 3,000 job cuts across the UK

Whitchurch is among those stores set to lose its in-store cafe, while in neighbouring Staffordshire, Sainsbury's Cannock branch on Orbital Retail Park is also among those affected.

Around 3,000 jobs are set to be lost across the group, with other stores across the region set to lose patisserie, hot food and pizza counters in-store as part of a national shake-up. 

The retailer says it will support workers affected by today's announcement, and will "explore redeployment opportunities where this is possible."

Third-party cafes within Sainsbury's stores, like the Starbucks branch in Telford's Forge Retail Park store, are not expected to be affected by the closures.

The move comes as part of a wider Sainsbury's strategy to increase concession space within its stores amid waning popularity for the company's in-store cafes, it says. In Shropshire, flagship county stores in Telford and Shrewsbury have both seen their cafe offerings replaced with either a chain coffee shop or with concession space offered to a high street retailer in past three years.

The firm signalled its intent after closing most of its 250 in-store cafes in 2022, leaving just 61 remaining.

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"As we accelerate into year two and beyond of our strategy, we are facing into a particularly challenging cost environment which means we have had to make tough choices about where we can afford to invest and where we need to do things differently to make our business more efficient and effective," said Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s chief executive.

"The decisions we are announcing today are essential to ensure we continue to drive forward our momentum but have also meant some difficult choices impacting our dedicated colleagues in a number of parts of our business.

"We’ll be doing everything we can to support anyone impacted by today’s announcements."

The closures are part of plans by Sainsbury's to save £1 billion over three years, despite the firm announcing indicated profits of around £1bn for the most recent financial year following a bumper Christmas sales period.