Morrisons has put more than 300 jobs at risk as it shuts cafes, convenience stores and food counters as retailers grapple with rising labour costs.

The supermarket chain said on Monday that it plans to close 52 cafes, 17 convenience stores, all 18 of its Market Kitchen hot food counters, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies.

While many employees will be affected by the move, 365 roles are expected to be permanently axed. Most of the job losses are predicted to be prompted by the convenience store closures.

The company said it was seeking to “optimise its operations and to help mitigate recent significant cost increases”.

The move echoes cuts from its rival grocery chain Sainsbury’s, and comes as Britain’s biggest retailers have warned they could be forced to cut thousands of roles and raise prices this year as a result of measures in Labour’s budget to increase employer national insurance contributions by a projected £25bn and raise the national minimum wage by 6.7%.

The Morrisons chief executive, Rami Baitiéh, has complained to the UK government that last year’s budget had exacerbated “an avalanche of costs” for businesses.

Late last year, he asked what ministers could do to mitigate employers’ national insurance changes, the minimum wage rise and business rates increases. National insurance changes alone are predicted to cost Morrisons about £75m.

On Monday he 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.”

“We do not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they will cause to some of our colleagues,” Baitiéh added. “We will of course take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes.”

He said that areas of its “Market Street” business model – with expert butchers, bakers and fishmongers have been a core part of Morrisons since the 1980s and were seen as a point of difference from its rivals – were “simply uneconomic”.

Morrisons was bought for £7bn by the US private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & (CD&R) in 2021.

In January, Sainsbury’s said it would cut 3,000 jobs in the UK through the closure of its hot food counters and cafes and by reducing senior management roles by a fifth, amid rising labour costs.

The job cuts were part of Sainsbury’s previously announced efforts to slash £1bn from costs as the business was facing “a particularly challenging cost environment”.

After the announcement by Sainsbury’s, a Downing Street spokesperson said that “difficult decisions” in the budget would help pave the way for economic growth.

Full list of closures

Cafes
Bradford – Thornbury
Paisley – Falside Road
London – Queensbury
Portsmouth
Newcastle – Great Park
Banchory – North Deeside Road
Manchester – Poplar Street, Failsworth
Blackburn – Railway Road
Leeds – Swinnow Road
London – Wood Green
Kirkham Poulton Street
Lutterworth – Bitteswell Road
Birmingham – Stirchley
Leeds – Horsforth
London – Erith
Crowborough
Bellshill – John Street
Dumbarton – Glasgow Road
East Kilbride – Lindsayfield
East Kilbride – Stewartfield
Glasgow – Newlands
Largs – Irvine Road
Troon – Academy Street
Wishaw – Kirk Road
Newcastle – UT Cowgate
Northampton – Kettering Road
Bromsgrove – Buntsford Industrial Park
Solihull – Warwick Road
Brecon – Free Street
Caernarfon – North Road|
Hadleigh
London – Hatch End, Harrow
High Wycombe – Temple End
Leighton Buzzard – Lake Street
London – Stratford
Sidcup – Westwood Lane
Welwyn Garden City – Black Fan Road
Warminster – Weymouth Street
Oxted – Station Yard
Reigate – Bell Street
Borehamwood|
Weybridge – Monument Hill
Bathgate
Erskine – Bridgewater Shopping Centre
Gorleston – Blackwell Road
Connah’s Quay
Mansfield Woodhouse
Elland
Gloucester – Metz Way
Watford – Ascot Road
Littlehampton – Wick
Helensburgh

Market Kitchens
Aberdeen – King Street
London – Canning Town
London – Camden Town
Eccles – Irwell Place
Stoke – Festival Park
Lincoln – Triton Road
Tynemouth – Preston Grange
Nottingham – Netherfield
Leeds – Kirkstall
Milton Keynes – Westcroft
Little Clacton – Centenary Way
Gravesend – Coldharbour Road
Cheltenham – Up Hatherley
Basingstoke – Thorneycroft
Brentford – Waterside
Birmingham – Edgbaston
Verwood
Kirkby

Morrisons Dailys
Gorleston – Lowestoft Road
Peebles – 3-5 Old Town
Shenfield – 214 Hutton Road
Poole – Waterloo Estate
Tonbridge – Higham Lane Estate
Romsey – The Cornmarket
Stewarton – Lainshaw Street
Selsdon – Featherbed Lane
Haxby – Village
Great Barr – Queslett Road
Whickham – Oakfield Road
Weston-Super-Mare – Worle
Goring-By-Sea – Strand Parade
Woking – Westfield Road
Wokingham – 40 Peach Street
Exeter – 51 Sidwell Street
|Bath – Moorland Road

Florists
Aberdeen – King Street
London – Canning Town
Birmingham – Stirchley
Bradford – Enterprise 5
Sunderland – Doxford Park
St Helens – Boundary Road
Swinton – Swinton Hall Road
Sheffield – Meadowhead
Evesham – Four Pool Estate
Newcastle Under Lyme – Goose Street
Rubery – Bristol Road South
St Albans – Hatfield Road
Sheldon

Pharmacies
Bradford – Victoria
Blackburn – Railway Road
London – Wood Green
Birmingham – Small Heath