Stratford Pizza Express not on closure list

Stratford’s Pizza Express restaurant on Ely Street has not been named as one of 73 the chain is planning to close.

The company announced a wave of closures this week, which could see the loss of up to 1,100 jobs nationally.

Pizza Express this week entered into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), having experienced difficulties caused by the pandemic and lockdown measures.

Zoe Bowley, UK and Ireland managing director, said: “Unfortunately, the impact of the global pandemic has meant that we have had to make some incredibly tough decisions to safeguard PizzaExpress for the long term. Today we have confirmed that 73 of our pizzerias are proposed to close permanently.

“In most cases, there is another PizzaExpress nearby, either already open or reopening soon, to welcome our customers. 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 PizzaExpress to meet future challenges and opportunities.”