September 11, 2020 11.04 am This story is over 41 months old

Grantham one of 29 Pizza Hut restaurants to close

Another blow to the town’s centre

The Grantham branch of Pizza Hut is one of 29 of the chain’s 244 UK restaurants earmarked for closure in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

It is part of a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) restructuring deal, with the expected loss of around 450 jobs across the UK. This includes the branch at The Manors Arm on London Road in Grantham.

Meanwhile, Pizza Express recently agreed with creditors a company voluntary arrangement, which means closing 73 of its 335 restaurants. The branch at The George Centre on Grantham High Street is on the closure list.

A Pizza Hut Restaurants spokeswoman said: “We are doing everything we can to redeploy our team members from our Pizza Hut Restaurants locations that are closing and minimise the impact to our workforce. We are therefore unable to share exact job loss numbers for each hut.

“We understand this is a difficult time for everyone involved and are supporting our team members as much as possible throughout this transition.”

The Pizza Hut Restaurants group said this is because “sales are not expected to fully bounce back until well into 2021”.

The the move will not impact on operations or jobs at Pizza Hut Delivery or related franchises.

Pizza Hut faced significant disruption from the pandemic and bosses were forced to renegotiate their rents through the CVA restructuring deal. The measures aim to protect around 5,000 jobs across its remaining restaurants.