At least 25 Sussex jobs face the axe after brewing giant Whitbread announced a shake-up of its high street cafe chains.

Whitbread's interim results show it will have invested more than £3.3 million and created more than 100 jobs in Sussex by the end of this financial year.

But many staff now face an uncertain future as the company sells its Cafe Rouge in Victoria Grove, Hove, and carries out a review of its Costa Coffee chain.

The company says some Costa Coffee outlets continue to profit but others are failing to lure customers.

Brighton coffee drinkers have taken to the chains, so jobs at Costa Coffee in Market Street and Bond Street are likely to remain safe for the foreseeable future.

But outlets in Crawley, Worthing and Horsham will come under close scrutiny in the coming weeks as the company decides whether to keep them open, sell them or move them to other towns.

Whitbread employs 3,200 staff in Sussex and has 92 outlets, including Beefeaters, Bella Pasta restaurants, Brewers Fayre restaurants, Cafe Rouge, Casa and Costa coffee cafes, and Pizza Huts.

Regional director Robert Crawley said the company would try to sell the Hove Cafe Rouge as a going concern.

He said: "We have to make sure we have the right retail outlets in the right towns and any that are not generating profits will be subject to changes during the review.

"It is quite simply pointless carrying on with stores in places which are not attracting customers.

"We are taking a realistic view of all of our branches and any poorly performing outlets will be subject to review."

He said staff who did lose their jobs would be given opportunities to apply for jobs elsewhere.