Pizza Express is to close 73 of its UK restaurants including the Hatch End branch.
The stores that have been selected for closure are near to other Pizza Express outlets that have already reopened or will be reopening soon such as the Pinner or Stanmore restaurants.
Zoe Bowley, Pizza Express’s managing director for the UK and Ireland, said: “Unfortunately, the impact of the global pandemic has meant that we have had to make some incredibly tough decisions to safeguard Pizza Express for the long term.”
The famous pizza chain said it had cut a deal to reduce growing rent costs. They although most of its restaurants have been profitable over the past three years, earnings had gone down since.
Pizza Express also confirmed it had hired advisers from Lazard to lead the business in the for sale procedure, someone could step in and rescue the struggling pizza chain.
The outlets to close are:
Aberdeen, Belmont St
Aylesbury
Barnstaple, Three Tuns
Biggleswade
Billericay
Birmingham, Corporation St
Birmingham, Mailbox
Bournemouth, Post Office Road
Bramhall
Bristol, Berkeley Square
Bristol, Regent Street
Bromsgrove
Bruton Place, London
Charlotte Street, London
Chippenham
Dalton Park
Darlington
Dudley, Merry Hill
Earls Court, Earls Court Road, London
Edinburgh, Holyrood
Formby
Fulham Palace Road, London
Glasgow, Princes Square
Glossop
Gosforth
Grantham
Halifax
Hampstead, London
Hatch End
Hereford
Heswall
Ipswich, Lloyds Avenue
Leeds, Crown Street
Leeds, Horsforth
Ludlow
Lymington
Melton Mowbray
Midhurst
Milton Keynes, Hub
Moseley
New Brighton
Newcastle
Newport, Isle of Wight
Newport, South Wales
Northallerton
Nottingham, Goosegate
O2 Finchley, London
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, London
Weston-super-Mare
Whiteley Village
Whitstable
Wrexham
Pizza Express Founder Peter Boizot opened the doors of the first Pizza Express on Wardour Street, Soho, in 1965.
(Image Credit: Google Maps)
