Costa Coffee Ireland unaffected by job cuts announcement in UK

More than 1,650 jobs are at risk in the UK branch of the coffee chain. Picture: Kaboom!/Pexels

Jobs in Costa Coffee chains in Ireland and Northern Ireland are unaffected by the recent redundancy announcements in the UK. 

Costa Coffee in the UK told staff that consultations beginning today could affect more than 10% of roles across the cafe chain as it looks to cut costs during continued uncertainty over when trade will fully recover due to Covid-19. 

More than 1,650 staff are at risk of redundancy as the chain returns to business after closing 2,700 UK stores for six weeks during the pandemic. 

2,400 Costa Coffee shops have now reopened but potential job losses are driven by “high levels of uncertainty as to when trade will recover to pre-Covid levels,” according to Neil Lake, managing director for Costa Coffee UK and Ireland. 

In a statement, another spokesperson for Costa Coffee UK and Ireland said that today's announcement does not impact Costa Coffee franchises in Ireland or Northern Ireland. 

"I can confirm that today’s announcement from Costa UK is not a franchisee announcement and this will not have any effect on either Costa NI or Costa Ireland," the spokesperson said. 

The announcement from Costa Coffee follows Pret A Manger's decision to cut 2,800 roles as part of a restructure of its UK business.

Meanwhile, activity in Ireland's services sector grew for the second straight month in August, and at a slightly faster pace despite repeatedly stalled moves to fully reopen the economy.

The AIB Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for services rose to 52.5 from 51.9 in July, marking its second month back above the 50-point line denoting growth, having sunk as low as 13.9 in April.