Asda is set to stop 24-hour trading at 20 stores that are no longer profitable after 10pm, The Grocer has learned.

The latest details to emerge from Asda’s current store restructuring plans will see the stores close from midnight to 6am throughout the week.

Asda currently has 216 stores that open 24 hours a day across its estate of 580 stores.

In a note sent to store managers, seen by The Grocer, Asda said the cost-saving measure would be introduced because the stores in question did not generate enough late-night sales to warrant extended opening hours.

The Asda superstores in Eastbourne, Bury St Edmunds, Antrim, Cumbernauld and Horwich are among those affected.

CEO Andy Clarke said offering 24-hour shopping was still important to Asda. “We have a number of 24-hour stores that continue to trade successfully. [But we also have] a number of stores [where] the introduction of click & collect and lockers has changed the solution for 24-hour shopping,” he explained.

“It has a place in a proportion of our stores, we’ve got well over 200 [with 24-hour opening times] and we’ve introduced 24-hour trading for stores that weren’t previously trading 24 hours.”

The note, which detailed the consultation dealing with the restructure of departmental managers affecting 4,100 staff announced by Asda last week, also revealed plans to change the management structure of its security staff in what it described as a “more centralised approach” to combat an “industry rise in external crime”.

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