Pizza Express is planning on closing around 75 of its 470 UK restaurants, reports suggest.
The branches are facing closure as part of a financial restructuring of the business, which is one of Britain’s biggest restaurant operators.
It is the latest blow to the High Street amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The exact number of branches being closed is yet to be confirmed and could depend on the progress of talks with landlords, set to start next week.
One source said that the number could be higher or lower than 75, but is unlikely to be more than 20 per cent of the restaurant’s UK outlets.
That means as many 94 sites could be closed, impacting hundreds of jobs, with Pizza Express employing 8,000 workers in the UK.