Pizza Express slashing 1,300 more jobs across UK

The announcement follows the news that the Pizza Express in Edinburgh's Holyrood was one of 73 in the UK to close. Picture: Lisa Ferguson.

Pizza Express has said it is cutting around 1,300 more jobs across its 370 UK restaurants after recent trading worsened in the face of tightened restrictions.

The move comes just two months after the restaurant chain revealed plans to axe 1,100 roles and close 73 of its restaurants – including Belmont Street, Aberdeen; Holyrood in Edinburgh; and Princes Square in Glasgow. It said no further restaurant sites will shut as part of its latest cuts, which will see job losses spread across restaurants.

The chain said its city centre sites have been "particularly hard-hit" by a recent slump in footfall, although a number of suburban and out-of-town locations have seen more resilient trading. The move adds to the 200,000-plus job losses since the start of the pandemic.