Regional co-operative, Southern Co-op, is doing everything it can to minimise the impact on colleagues, customers and the community, after it announced that it will be going ahead with the closure of The Co-operative Food, Old Street, Clevedon at the end of January 2021.

The decision follows a commitment in March to delay the store closure for a minimum of six months in response to requests from the local community to avoid closing the store during the COVID national lockdown.

Simon Eastwood, Chief Operating Officer for Retail at Southern Co-op, said: “Having now reviewed the situation, we have unfortunately not seen an increase in trade to the store. This means it remains a loss-making store and is no longer economically viable for us to trade.

“We’re grateful to our loyal customers who have continued to use our store over the last few months, but regrettably, we have had to reinstate our plans for closure. To help manage the impacts, we are committed to delaying this closure until the end of January 2021 and actively seeking opportunities to transfer the store as a going concern to another retailer. We’re also working actively with Post Office Ltd on the future Post Office provision in the town centre.

“We’ll be doing all we can to either work with a prospective new owner to transfer our in-store team on their current terms and conditions under TUPE or offer them alternative employment in our wider store estate, which includes four alternative stores within 10 miles.

“We recognise this has been a challenging time for all of us and are disappointed that despite our best efforts, we have been unable to keep this store open.”