Lancashire supermarket chain Booths ditches self-service tills

A supermarket has become the first in the UK to go back to fully-staffed checkouts, axing almost all its self-service tills.

All but two of Booths’ 28 stores will see staff back on the tills the firm, which trades in northern England, said.

The exceptions are two of its seven shops in Cumbria.

The firm, which has 16 stores in Lancashire as well as outlets in Yorkshire and Cheshire, said it was responding to customer feedback.

“We believe colleagues serving customers delivers a better customer experience and therefore we have taken the decision to remove self-checkouts in the majority of our stores,” a spokesman said.

“We have based this not only on what we feel is the right thing to do but also having received feedback from our customers.

“We will retain self-checkouts in two of our stores in the Lake District in order to meet the needs of our customers during very busy periods.”

The company, which has been described as a northern Waitrose, said its philosophy since 1847 is to “sell the best goods available, in attractive stores, staffed with first class assistants”.

“Delighting customers with our warm northern welcome is part of our DNA and we continue to invest in our people to ensure we remain true to that ethos,” the firm added.

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