Prezzo announces closure of 46 restaurants with 810 jobs at risk - full list including Livingston

Prezzo has confirmed it will close 46 of its restaurants after ‘not recovering’ from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prezzo has announced that it will close 46 of its restaurants across the UK. The move comes as the company continues to struggle with the soaring costs of food and energy.

The company did say it would try to redeploy “as many staff internally as possible”, but the move will still put around 810 of their workers at risk of redundancy. Following the closures, the chain will have 97 restaurants and around 2,000 staff.

The list of closures comes just two years after the group was forced to close 22 restaurants and cut 216 jobs. The company behind the restaurant CHAIN previously fell into administration late in 2020 before being bought by private equity owners Cain International.

Dean Challenger, chief executive of Prezzo, 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."

Mr Challenger added: "We believe the tough decisions we are making today will ensure Prezzo can continue serving communities with high-quality, accessible Italian-inspired meals for many more years to come.”

The group said that one of the reasons behind the closures was the double in utility bills and the record increase in the cost of the food which reached a 45 year high in March. The cost of spaghetti rose 40%, pizza sauce went up 28% and the cost of its dough balls increased by 15%.

So, which locations will be closing? Here’s the full list of closures taking place across the UK.

Which Edinburgh Prezzo locations are close?

The restaurant chain confirmed that their Livingston location would be one of their locations that will shut its doors for good.

File photo dated 23/3/2020 of a Prezzo restaurant. The Italian restaurant chain has said it will close 46 loss-making sites, putting around 810 workers at risk of redundancy.

Full list of UK Prezzo closures

Here is a full list of all the Prezzo restaurants 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