Pizza Express in Scarborough is to shut as company announces 73 closures in UK
Scarborough's Pizza Express is one of 73 across the UK that is to close, the company has announced.
Around 1,100 jobs are at risk as the national chain is to shut 73 of its restaurants in a bid to stay afloat in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown.
The Scarborough branch, in Sandside, opened at the end of June 2015.
The chain restaurant group took over the X-Chainstore to transform it into a two-storey eatery opposite the harbour.
A spokesman for the company at the time said: “In this location Pizza Express will be an additional amenity that the tourists aspire to enjoy and will be consistent with its commercial neighbours, who will benefit from the principle of cluster development.”
Scarborough Borough Council’s planning officers had approved a change of use for the premises that allowed a restaurant to move in when the clothes store moved out.
In January of that year the restaurant was granted an alcohol licence.
Pizza Express, which currently has around 454 restaurants in the UK, said on Tuesday it has finalised a proposal to reduce its restaurant and rental costs via a company voluntary arrangement (CVA).
It said that although the majority of its restaurants were profitable before lockdown was imposed, earnings had been declining across the Pizza Express estate for the last three years.
It added that the reduction in revenue caused by the enforced closure of all restaurants, the cost of reopening and the UK’s uncertain economic future meant its rental costs were no longer sustainable.
Pizza Express, which is majority owned by Chinese firm Hony Capital, also confirmed it had hired advisers from Lazard to lead a sale process for the business.
It said it would hold a virtual meeting for its creditors on September 4 to seek approval for the measures set out in the CVA.
The full list of closures is:
Aberdeen - Belmont Street
Aylesbury
Barnstaple - Three Tuns
Biggleswade
Billericay
Birmingham - Corporation Street
Birmingham - Mailbox
Bournemouth - Post Office Road
Bramhall
Bristol - Berkeley Square
Bristol - Regent Street
Bromsgrove
Bruton Place
Charlotte Street
Chippenham
Dalton Park
Darlington
Dudley - Merry Hill
Earls Court - Earls Court Road
Edinburgh - Holyrood
Formby
Fulham Palace Road
Glasgow – Princes Square
Glossop
Gosforth
Grantham
Halifax
Hampstead
Hatch End
Hereford
Heswall
Ipswich - Lloyds Avenue
Leeds - Crown Street
Leeds - Horsforth
Ludlow
Lymington
Melton Mowbray
Midhurst
Milton Keynes
Moseley
New Brighton
Newcastle
Newport - Isle of Wight
Newport - South Wales
Northallerton
Nottingham - Goosegate
O2 Finchley
Orpington
Oxford - Oxford Castle
Poole
Port Solent
Ramsgate
Reading - St Mary's Butts
Scarborough
Sheffield - Devonshire Street
Sheffield The Moor
Shirley
Southport - Old Bank
Stafford
Staines
Stoke
Stourbridge
Sudbury
Torquay
Uxbridge
Wakefield
Walsall
Wapping
Wardour Street
Weston-super-Mare
Whiteley Village
Whitstable
Wrexham
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