Supermarket jobs could be under threat across the borough with one of the country’s biggest chains announcing shop closures this morning.

Morrisons, who have a store in The Grove, Stratford, will shut 11 supermarkets across the country with the potential loss of 900 jobs.

The announcement came as the Bradford-based group revealed a 47 per cent drop in half-yearly pre-tax profits of £126million.

Yesterday, the supermarket giant agreed to sell off 140 of its M local convenience for about £25million by a team headed up by retail entrepreneur Mike Greene, and funded by Greybull Capital.

The chain intend to hang on to five of its local stores which are either on forecourts or will be converted to small Morrisons supermarkets.

Those shops changing hands will be re-branded as “my local”, with the 2,300 staff nationwide being kept on, while an extra 200 jobs will be created by reopening 10 shops that are currently shut.

New Morrisons chief executive David Potts, who took up his post in March, said: “The immediate priority is to deliver a better shopping trip to stabilise trading performance.

“Our six strategic priorities will then deliver improvement in the core supermarkets, where we have the greatest opportunity.

“It will be a long journey. We approach the challenge with energy, confidence and many strengths, particularly our strong balance sheet and cash flow, which enables investment in improving the customer shopping trip.”

In April, the Stratford store became one of the first in the country to stock a range of halal pick and mix sweets.