ON this day in 2025, the café at the Sainsbury’s supermarket in Rhuddlan announced its impending closure.
It marked a significant change for the community as part of a broader effort by the company to cut 3,000 jobs across the UK.
All 61 remaining Sainsbury’s cafés, including the one at Clwyd Retail Park, were set to shut down in what was described as a “difficult decision,” subject to consultation.
Alongside the café closures, Sainsbury’s also proposed the shutdown of its remaining patisserie, hot food, and pizza counters.
The supermarket chain explained that the majority of its shoppers did not utilise its cafés regularly, noting that cafés and food halls operated by specialist partners were gaining popularity.
Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s chief executive, said at the time: “We launched our Next Level Strategy almost a year ago and are totally focused on making good food joyful, accessible and affordable for everyone, every day.”
He added: “As a result, we’re seeing real momentum across our business, with a best-ever value position, leading quality and increasing market share.”
Roberts continued to outline the challenges faced during the implementation of this strategy: “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.”
Sainsbury’s chief executive also acknowledged the impact of these decisions on its dedicated employees, stating: “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.”
The company said it was engaging with affected employees to discuss the changes and explore redeployment opportunities where possible.
It was also noted that Sainsbury’s would be providing a support package to those impacted by the closures.
Rhuddlan’s Sainsbury’s café was one of two in North Wales scheduled to close, with the other being located in Wrexham.
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