WORKERS at a York supermarket face an uncertain future, as the countdown to closure commences.

The 19 staff at Kwik Save's Hull Road store in York have been told that the store will close on November 2, and a new Somerfield store may not now reopen on the site until July next year.

A member of staff, who did not want to be named, told the Evening Press that although staff can reapply for their jobs, they won't necessarily get them - despite originally being told they would.

But a Somerfield spokeswoman said talks would start this week to try to find staff jobs at other stores, and they would be given first refusal on jobs when the new store opened.

Customers at the store -many of them elderly - said eight months was a long time for the store to be shut and they felt staff were being badly treated.

In July, the Evening Press reported that delayed plans by Kwik Save's owners, Somerfield and Caddick Developments Ltd, to bulldoze the store and replace it with a store and a block of 20 two-bedroom flats had been approved by City of York Council.

Originally, residents objected to the scheme on the grounds that it would be too dense and out of character for the surrounding area. But councillors heard the developers had changed the layout from one 'T' shape block to one long block along the back of the site and a separate small block at the front.

The historic building was originally constructed as an engineering works, but was used for many years as a print works and was said to have housed prisoners-of-war during the First World War.

It was one of the longest-established supermarkets in York, and became the country's first Hillards store when it opened for business in October 1968.

The store changed hands in 1987 as part of Tesco's £200 million buyout of Hillards, and again a year later, when it was bought by William Jackson and Son for its Grandways brand. Kwik Save became the latest owner of the property in 1992, when William Jackson and Son decided to switch their business from supermarkets to convenience stores.

Dorothy Warriner, 66, of neighbouring Siward Street, said: "I'm just upset they are closing, upset for the staff and for the locals who use it, particularly the elderly residents who can't get around and if you don't have a car you are stuck."

Her neighbour, disabled pensioner Marian Eddon, has multiple sclerosis and walks with a frame. She said the shop was a lifeline for many elderly people.

A Somerfield spokeswoman said: "We appreciate that it's a difficult time, but if the staff haven't been found jobs elsewhere or taken redundancy they will be promised first refusal on jobs when the new store opens in July."

Updated: 08:43 Tuesday, October 11, 2005