Nine Pizza Express restaurants to close in Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire amid huge closure plan
Pizza Express is to shut 73 of its restaurants across the UK with the potential loss of 1,100 jobs in a bid to stay afloat in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown, the chain has announced.The company, 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's managing director for the UK and Ireland, said:
Ms Bowley said that in most cases, the stores selected for closure are near to another Pizza Express that has already reopened or will be reopening soon.She added: "Our focus is on our people whose jobs are impacted and we will be doing everything we can either to redeploy them or to support them in finding roles elsewhere."Hard as this process is, it will protect the jobs of over 9,000 of our colleagues and provide a strong footing for Pizza Express to meet future challenges and opportunities."Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: "These situations are never easy, particularly now for the retail, hospitality and leisure businesses on our high streets at the sharp end of the Covid-19 pandemic."Property owners, however, need to take into consideration the impact on their investors, including the millions of people whose savings and pensions are invested in commercial property, as they vote on any CVA proposal." The proposed closures, which aim to reduce the chain's costs via a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), could result in 1,100 job losses.
The following restaurants in our region have been earmarked for closure:
Grantham
Halifax
Leeds, Crown St
Leeds, Horsforth
Northallerton
Scarborough
Sheffield, Devonshire St
Sheffield The Moor
Wakefield