CRECHE workers at a York supermarket are fighting plans to close down the facility which they say attracts up to 100 children a day.

Staff at Dweezils in the Asda, store at Monks Cross, were told by their manager that the outlet would be closing down on August 21.

Asda said the space was needed to open an optician department and photo centre as part of the current refurbishment and extension of the store.

Now creche staff have started a petition of parents to show Asda how popular the facility is.

Jackie Cooper, duty manager at Dweezils, said parents and children who used the creche regularly while doing their food shopping would be devastated by the closure.

She said: "The creche has been very popular for six years and we get regular kids here.

"It's a big help for people. We get a lot of parents from Scarborough and Whitby who say it's really nice to come here and leave the children because they don't have those facilities where they live.

"We get regular people who come in and say they would miss having us here.

"The kids also seem to really enjoy coming here, they can run around and run off their energy. The younger brothers and sisters also say they can't wait until they are three so they can come here as well."

The creche, which is run by Leisure Operations, allows children to play on a range of toys for an hour for a fee of £2.99. Dweezils had been advertising for more staff to join the six-strong team.

A spokesman for Asda said: "Unfortunately, as part of the refit, the creche is due to close on August 21.

"We are aware it will be disappointing for the small number of people that use it.

"We are using the space to open an opticians and a photo centre because, based on our customer research, more people will use these. In the context of people that use the store, we have 45,000 people a week, just a small number use the creche.

"We are trying the use the space that's there in the most effective way for our customers."

Updated: 12:09 Wednesday, June 26, 2002