Pepperoni lovers and margherita stans, we have bad news. If you tend to choose chain pizza places over local independents, you may have to start branching out.
That’s because Prezzo has announced that it will be closing 46 of its UK restaurants – almost one third of its total. The branches shutting their doors are all said to be loss-making. Glasgow, Oxford and Plymouth are all among the towns and cities set to lose their sites.
The news comes after the chain already shut 22 branches two years ago. A whopping 810 jobs are expected to be affected.
It may come as a surprise to some that the chain still exists at all. Prezzo has suffered over the last few years thanks to Covid as well as soaring prices of spaghetti and tomato sauce. It even went into administration during the pandemic but was rescued by private equity owners Cain International.
Dean Challenger, Prezzo’s chief executive, said: ‘The last three years have been some of the hardest times I have ever seen for the high street and I’m extremely proud of the way our colleagues have retained Prezzo’s position as an appealing, trusted, great-value food and drink experience.
‘But the reality is that the cost-of-living crisis, the changing face of the high street and soaring inflation has made it impossible to keep all our restaurants operating profitably.’
Here’s the full list of Prezzo branches that are due to close:
- Beccles
- Billericay
- Bolton
- Borehamwood
- Boston
- Bracknell
- Brentwood
- Buckhurst Hill
- Buckingham
- Chichester
- Chingford
- Colchester
- Corby
- Didcot
- Eastbourne
- Egham
- Eltham
- Ely
- Epsom
- Fleet
- Glasgow, St Vincent Place
- Hailsham
- Harpenden
- Livingston
- Lyndhurst
- Maidstone
- Mere Green
- Mill Hill
- Oxford
- Plymouth
- Redditch
- Redhill
- Rugby
- Shepperton
- Shirley
- Sidcup
- St Neots
- Stowmarket
- Tenterden
- Tunbridge Wells
- Weybridge
- Whitstable
- Wickford
- Wimborne
- Winchester
- Woodford Green
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