A CONVENIENCE store in Helensburgh has been earmarked for closure after changing hands earlier this year, the Advertiser has learned.

The McColl's store in Churchill Square is one of 10 in Scotland – and 132 across the UK – on a list of planned closures seen by the Advertiser.

Around 1,300 jobs are believed to be at risk under the plans unveiled by the Morrisons supermarket chain, which bought its troubled rival for £190 million in a rescue deal in May.

But Bradford-based Morrisons, which itself was bought in a £7 billion deal last year, said all 1,300 workers will be offered roles elsewhere in the company.

No closure date has been announced for the Churchill store, but it is not likely to shut until 2023 after the company said that the 55 stores on the closure list which include Post Office counters – Churchill being one of them ­– will not shut up shop until after the busy Christmas period.

Morrisons said the stores identified for closure were all ones where, following a review, “there is no realistic prospect of achieving a break-even position in the medium term”.

The 10 stores proposed for closure in Scotland are in Helensburgh (Churchill Square), Kilwinning, Bridge of Allan, Chapelhall, Fort William, Corstorphine, Dalkeith, Dunfermline and Glenrothes.

The other McColl’s store in Helensburgh, located on West Princes Street, is not on the list of stores set to shut.

Of those not earmarked for closure in the new list, the majority of the 1,164 McColl’s stores bought by Morrisons earlier this year are to be converted to the 'Morrisons Daily' format.

Morrisons’ plans to overhaul the convenience retailer were unveiled on Tuesday after competition regulators said last week that they were set to clear the takeover.

Joseph Sutton, Morrisons’ convenience, online and wholesale director, said: “We have a great deal of work to do but there’s no question that McColl’s is a business with strong potential.

“I’m confident that the combination of McColl’s conveniently located stores and great colleagues, together with Morrisons scale, brand, systems and fresh food expertise, will lead to a transformation of the business.

“We very much regret the proposed closure of 132 loss-making stores but it is, very sadly, an important step towards the regeneration of the business.

“I am confident that McColl’s can, in the Morrisons family, once again become a growing, thriving and vibrant convenience business serving local communities across the UK.”

Morrisons’ takeover of McColl’s was cleared last month after the supermarket giant told regulators from the Competition and Markets Authority that it would sell 28 convenience stores to push the move through.