Restaurant chain Prezzo to close Edinburgh North Bridge branch permanently

Prezzo is to close its popular branch at North Bridge amid nationwide cutbacks.

The restaurant chain has listed the 22 branches that won’t be reopening, and has included the Edinburgh restaurant.

The closures – which were first announced by the last week – come after Prezzo was bought back from administrators by investment firm Cain International as part of a pre-pack deal in December.

The value of the sale was not disclosed but came six years after TPG bought the chain for more than £300 million.

All of the chain’s 178 restaurants are currently closed to customers in the face of the latest national coronavirus lockdown.

Cain said the closures protect the vast majority of the restaurant chain's 2,900 workforce, though it will result in 216 redundancies.

Jonathan Goldstein, chief executive of Cain, said: “We firmly believe that strong hospitality businesses, such as Prezzo, have a bright future and will play an essential role in reviving the UK economy.

“However, to do so, we must get through this current crisis of mounting liabilities and no revenues.

Prezzo is to close its branch at North Bridge in Edinburgh.

“The lack of visibility on when and how the sector will reopen has heightened economic uncertainty to the point where decisive action had to be taken to secure the future of the business and the majority of jobs for Prezzo's people.

“We are deeply sorry for all those affected by the permanent closure of the 22 non-viable restaurants.”

The closures in Scotland include Aberdeen Marishal Square. That leaves one restaurant in Livingston, two in Glasgow, and another at Aberdeen’s Union Shopping Centre.

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