KWIK SAVE in Pontypool is to close following a shake-up in its parent company Somerfield.

The company announced on Monday that all of their stores would be given the same name and would no longer trade as Kwik Save.

A spokesman for Somerfield told the Free Press: "Somer-field is restructuring, and the Pontypool store has been sold to another retailer. The staff will all transfer to the new retailer, who we are unable to confirm at present."

The move came as Kwik Save stores nationally incurred substantial losses. Shoppers in Pontypool on Monday afternoon found the doors locked and staff were telling customers the store had been sold.

In Somerfield's nation-wide shake up 102 Kwik Save stores are to be converted to the Somerfield fascia to create a retail group with over 1,000 stores across the UK.

Somerfield also announces that it has sold the Kwik Save brand and 171 stores to a new company specifically formed to operate Kwik Save.

It is rumoured that frozen food store Iceland is to occupy the building, but a spokesman for the company was unable to confirm that yesterday evening.

Staff at the Kwik Save store have all been reassured that their jobs are safe and will be offered the chance to work for the new company.

A spokesman for Somerfield said: "There are to be no job losses as a result of the closure of Kwik Save in Pontypool, the new company is willing to take on the existing staff."