Matthew Barnes, CEO, said: “These are difficult decisions affecting our colleagues, but we believe they are necessary to enable us to invest in what matters most to our customers.

“Our priority is to support impacted colleagues and we will do everything we can to help them find alternative roles within our business. Today, we have almost 1,000 vacancies available.”

Separately, Tesco said it will soon launch a consultation over the closure of its Snodland distribution centre in Kent.

It said this follows plans to open a new warehouse site in Aylesford, around three miles away, with all affected workers at Snodland being offered roles at the new site.