Pizza Express in Scarborough is to shut as company announces 73 closures in UK

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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