Pizza Express has confirmed that their restaurant in the popular dining district The Hub is to permanently close.
This is part of the restaurant chain's plans to close 73 branches nationwide and axe over 1,000 jobs to save rental costs.
Although one local Pizza Express restaurant will be closing, three will remain open in Milton Keynes. The restaurants at the centre:mk, Xscape and MK1 will continue to trade as normal.
These nationwide closures are part of the chain's company voluntary arrangement (CVA) to reduce both its restaurant and rental costs. Pizza Express had admitted that earnings across the company had been declining for the past few years, despite the majority of restaurants being profitable before lockdown.
They also stated that the loss of income due to lockdown meant that reopening costs combined with the uncertain economic future meant that some costs were no longer sustainable.
Zoe Bowley, Pizza Express's MD 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."
She continued: "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.
"Hard as this process is, it will protect the jobs of over 9,000 of our colleagues and provide a strong footing for Pizza Express to meet future challenges and opportunities."
