Café in Newbury Sainsbury's set to close

The café in Sainsbury’s in Newbury is set to close.

The supermarket chain has revealed plans to close 200 of its cafés this spring, with 2,000 members of staff likely to be impacted.

It said staff affected would be prioritised for vacant roles in Sainsbury’s stores and would be encouraged to explore alternative roles within the wider business.

It's currently unknown what will replace the café in the Hectors Way store, which is located on the first floor of the supermarket.

The remaining 67 Sainsbury’s cafés will stay open while it reviews rollout plans.

Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts said: “As we go through this period of transition, we have taken the difficult decision to close 200 of our cafés next month.

“We have spoken to all colleagues affected by these changes today and are absolutely committed to supporting them in any way we can during this uncertain time.

“Of course, we understand this is very unsettling for our colleagues, but we must keep adapting our business to make sure we are offering customers the best possible food and drink at affordable prices.”

The closures are part of plans to transform Sainsbury’s eat-in, takeaway and home delivery food and drink offer.

It said it follows a successful trial of a new food hall format called The Restaurant Hub at its Selly Oak store in Birmingham.

Working in partnership with Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), The Restaurant Hub offers customers eat-in, takeaway and home delivered hot food and drink from a range of brands – including Caffè Carluccio’s, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Ed’s Diner and Slim Chickens.

Sainsbury’s and BRG plan to open 30 more The Restaurant Hubs in the next year, with the intention to accelerate the roll-out in future years if the format continues to be popular with customers.

At the same time, Sainsbury’s will also open a further 30 Starbucks coffee shops in its supermarkets in the next 12 months, bringing the total number of Starbucks in Sainsbury’s supermarkets to 60.