Tesco is to shut its Devizes Metro store in Maryport Street on Saturday, April 4, putting more than 60 jobs at risk.

The supermarket giant confirmed that the shop on Maryport Street is not making enough money and the 61 staff members were dealt the blow by store management at a meeting on Wednesday morning.

On January 8 the chief executive of Tesco, Dave Lewis, said 43 unprofitable stores would be shut and today these have been named, affecting about 2,000 staff nationwide.

Today he said: "It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that our Devizes store is one of the 43 we plan to close.

"The decision to close the store has been exceptionally difficult to take.

"I recognise it will affect many hard-working colleagues, our customers and the local community.

"Our priority is to explain what this announcement means for our colleagues and wherever possible, offer them alternative roles with Tesco.

"I would like to thank all our customers who have shopped in our store.

"We will continue to do our best to serve them through our local stores in Chippenham, Calne and Melksham and our dotcom service.”

A spokesperson for Tesco said that staff at the store will now go into a one on one consultation process and wherever possible those affected will be offered other jobs within the company, although redundancy will be an option.

The spokesperson also said that the building, which was refurbished in 2006, is leased and that Tesco will be in discussions with the landlord on the future of the building. 

Tesco says the closure of its unprofitable stores is part of moves to "protect the future of the business in the UK".

In January last year it was rumoured that Tesco could build a store off London Road, Devizes, but this now looks highly unlikely.

A planned store at Royal Wootton Bassett has been scrapped, a decision which was wecolmed by local campaigners, but Tesco has said it will go ahead with a planned new store at Calne.

There have been a string of independent shop closures in Devizes town centre over the last few months including Cielo Blu and the Pottery Painting Company.

Pauline Foulkes, national officer for the Usdaw union, said: “This is devastating news for over 2,000 dedicated staff in the 43 Tesco stores across the UK, who have worked hard to make their shop viable during a difficult time for the company.

“We will now enter into full and meaningful consultation meetings on this proposal, where we will look closely at the company’s business case for the closures.

"Our priority is to maximise employment within Tesco, seek redeployment opportunities for members, where possible, and to keep job losses to a minimum.

“We will support, advise and represent our members throughout this difficult period of uncertainty.”

The closures announced by Tesco today are:

Superstores at Bedlington, Chatham, Connswater and Cregagh Road in Belfast, Doncaster, Kirkcaldy and Wrexham Dodds Lane.

Homeplus shops are to shut at Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Chelmsford, Chester, Edinburgh, Southampton and Staines.

Tesco Metro shops will close at Bicester, Bootle, Caerphilly, Crossgates, Devizes, Grangemouth, Mexborough, Morecambe, Ormskirk, Runcorn, Smethwick and Woodseats.

The company has also identified 18 smaller Express convenience stores for closure.

They are at: Bearwood; Belvedere; Church Street, Ballymena; Heaton Chapel; Heybridge, Essex; Houghton Regis; Liverpool Kensington; Longbridge Road, Barking; Northfield, Birmingham; Raymouth Lane, Worksop; Sheffield Manor; South Tottenham High Road; Tredegar; Troon; Walsall Wood; Wealdstone; Whitley Bay; and York Road, Hartlepool.