Morrisons reopens fish and meat counters at Newcastle Great Park store

Signs have gone up at the supermarket in the Great Park development in Newcastle confirming the fishmonger and butcher stands will reopen this month.

They confirm “fresh cuts are back on the block” with “skilled butchers” returning to the store on Monday (June 22).

A week later on Monday, June 29, the fish counter will reopen, with signage reading: “Dive into fresh fish done right, with skilled fishmongers preparing your fish just how you like it.”

The butcher counter will reopen on June 22. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

The retailer closed both stands at its Great Park town centre shop in April last year.

Great Park Morrisons store. (Image: PR)

It came after the chain confirmed last March that 52 cafes, all of its 18 market kitchens, 17 Morrisons Daily convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies would close with 365 staff facing redundancy.

At the time Rami Baitieh, Morrisons’ chief executive, said the changes were a “necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate” the brand as some areas were “simply uneconomic”.

The Great Park store’s café, which also closed last year, is not reopening.

The fish counter will reopen on June 29. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

The 20,000sq ft supermarket only opened in March 2023, after residents of the huge estate spent years campaigning for one.

Earlier this month Morrisons named four former McColl’s stores – now branded as Morrisons Daily – on a ‘hit list’ of seven shops earmarked to close in the coming months.

Featured on the list are stores on Queen Street in Redcar, on Zetland Road in Loftus, on Esk Close in Guisborough, and on Stokesley High Street. 

The retailer said its convenience stores are subject to continuous review, but the stores to be closed have been loss-making, despite remedial action.

A statement continued: “This situation has been exacerbated in more recent years by significant cost increases resulting from Government policy choices, which have made returning these stores to profitability even more difficult.”