Tesco job losses: Supermarket giant to ‘axe up to 15,000 jobs and close meat, fish and deli counters’

In-store bakeries will reportedly replace fresh dough with frozen dough

Tesco will reportedly axe 15,000 jobs as part of a £1.5bn cost-saving measure.

The supermarket chain will also close its meat, fish and delicatessen counters, according to the Mail on Sunday.

The paper claims in-store bakeries will also be overhauled, with fresh dough replaced with frozen dough.

It said staff canteens would be closed and replaced with vending machines.

Some meat, fish and deli counters in Tesco’s largest stores will remain open from Thursdays to Saturdays, the paper added.

The closures and cutbacks are said to be part of chief executive Dave Lewis’ attempts to save £1.5bn in costs by 2020.

“Dave Lewis’s attitude seems to be ‘if in doubt, just close it’ – but for elderly customers, or those on a budget, using the counters for a few slices of ham, those aren’t the days they do their shopping,” one source said.

It comes after Tesco’s former UK finance director was cleared over a fraud and false accounting scandal that saw the company overstate its profit forecast by £250m.

Carl Rogberg was cleared of all charges at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday after the Serious Fraud Office presented no case against him.

The supermarket chain recently celebrated its best Christmas sales since 2009, with a 2.2 per cent rise in UK like-for-like sales in the six weeks up to 5 January.