Wm Morrison, the supermarket group, is planning to close one of its produce centres in Bradford, putting more than 450 jobs at risk.
Cutler Heights, which was the Bradford-based group’s first produce site, supplies 59 fruit products and 115 million packets of fruit a year.
Morrisons said that it would be “consolidating” and moving all operations to its other fruit packing site in Thrapston, Northamptonshire.
The move is set to take place in the second half of this year and would put the jobs of 456 employees at risk.
The grocer said it would try to employ those people in other produce, logistics and retail sites in the local area.
Morrisons began as a stall selling eggs and butter opened by William Morrison in 1899. It was bought by Clayton Dubilier & Rice, the American private equity firm, in a deal worth about £7 billion at the end of 2021.
The deal left the retailer with £6.6 billion of debt, which, amid rising interest rates, has prompted claims that it has been unable to compete with rivals on the price of groceries.
A Morrisons spokesman said: “After very careful review and evaluation, we propose to move ahead with a consolidation at Thrapston. Regrettably, the proposal to consolidate two sites means that there are 456 colleagues at Cutler Heights who are at risk of redundancy.
“We will do everything we can to employ those colleagues in other Morrisons manufacturing, logistics and retail sites in the local area.”
