Pizza Express is closing 73 of its UK restaurants - including two in Bristol- with the potential loss of more than 1,000 jobs.
In our city, Berkeley Square in Clifton and the one at Regent Street, in Clifton Village, are set to close. While in Weston, the chain on Central Walk will shut.
Although the majority of restaurants were profitable before lockdown was imposed, bosses claim earnings have been declining for the last three years.
This means just two Pizza Express restaurants will remain in Bristol, one at the harbourside and the other at Cabot Circus.
Zoe Bowley, Pizza Express's managing director for the UK and Ireland, said: "Unfortunately, the impact of the global pandemic has meant that we have had to make some incredibly tough decisions to safeguard Pizza Express for the long term."
Ms Bowley said that in most cases, the stores selected for closure are near to another Pizza Express that has already reopened or will be reopening soon.
She added: "Our focus is on our people whose jobs are impacted and we will be doing everything we can either to redeploy them or to support them in finding roles elsewhere."
