A DARWEN councillor has slammed a town centre store after it emerged it is making a third of its staff redundant.

Convenience store chain McColl’s took over the former Co-op in Church Street earlier this year and reopened after a refurbishment.

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All staff then employed by the Co-op were transferred to the new company – but now some of those have been told they will lose their jobs.

The Lancashire Telegraph understands the firm has 12 employees at its Darwen store and four of them will be let go by company chiefs.

Darwen councillor Roy Davies has slammed the firm for slashing its workforce so soon after taking over.

He said: “That is about a third of the workforce at the shop.

“I am really annoyed with this. I am surprised the Co-op did not make any conditions about its employees when it sold.

“If they have sold the company they should have taken that into consideration.

“I went in recently and there were only three people in the shop so they seem short-staffed as it is.

“It is only a few months since they took over so they must have known what they were going to do then.”

Coun Davies, who represents the Sudell ward, said it may be difficult for some of those being made redundant to find new jobs.

He said: “Some of them are of an age that they will not get a job again.

“If they were going to make people redundant from the start they should have been up front about it.

“I think it is ridiculous and the Co-op should have looked after its employees when they sold the shop.”

Bosses at McColl’s, which owns more than 1,200 stores nationwide, refused to comment but confirmed the firm was making the redundancies in Darwen.