The wine department will be relocated at the new look store

A SUMMER of discontent has begun in the north of the borough after Waitrose shutdown for a six-week refurbishment.

The quality food supermarket’s “John Barnes” branch in Finchley Road is expected to reopen in late August with an “enhanced look and feel”, revamped bakery, deli, “fruit and vegetable area” and “relocated wine department”.

Devastated customers who did not get the memo are said to be “traumatised” and had been seen “wailing and aghast” at the deli and bakery counters on discovering the closure, on Sunday.

Others have joked in community forums how a support group should be set up to get the store’s customers “through this difficult time”.

Those in the know said they had been stockpiling favourite products including “mint hummus and roasted beetroot”.

Gio Spinella, former leader of Camden Conservatives, said: “It really impacts my day-to-day shopping. Obviously Sainsbury’s is around the corner but the two stores offer different products and I will miss some of the foodstuffs I could only find at Waitrose. I hope the refurb is worth the wait.”

Aldi Local has recently opened a branch just a few minutes walk from the Finchley Road Waitrose, joining Sainsbury in the 02 Centre, along with an M&S “foodhall” further down the high street.

The John Barnes name is a nod to a department store guru (not the Liverpool and England footballer), who died in a shipping accident off the coast of Guernsey in 1899. Founders of an original store on the site named it after him in his memory. That shop was bought up by the John Lewis Partnership chain in 1940, and Waitrose opened its John Barnes branch in 1981.

A Waitrose spokesperson said: “We’re really sorry for the inconvenience but we’re giving our John Barnes shop a fresh new look and installing exciting new features.  “We are confident it will be worth the wait, and in the meantime our partners at nearby branches are ready to welcome customers. They’ll also fulfil online orders, so any customer using Waitrose.com, Uber Eats or Deliveroo won’t notice any changes.”