Waitrose shops at Morrisons

SUPERMARKET group Waitrose has moved further north from its southern England heartland with a deal to buy five stores from Morrisons.

The deal includes sites at Durham and Wilmslow, in Cheshire, and follows the group's purchase of another set of stores from Morrisons last year. More than half of the group's sales now come from outside it's traditional home turf in the Home Counties.

Waitrose said the acquisition continued the expansion of the firm as a national retailer "building on its presence in its heartland territory and continuing its move into new trading regions".

The stores included in the latest deal are part of the Safeway chain bought by Morrisons for £3 billion, and include East Grinstead and Lewes, both in Sussex, and St Katharine's Dock in London.