Pizza Express has this afternoon announced the re-opening date of many branches across the country.

The move comes as part of a phased re-opening by the company, which follows on from trails at dozens of its restaurants already.

Nationally, some 71 restaurants will reopen with the dine-in service and dine-out services on Thursday July 30, with 88 more the following Thursday.

In our region they include Stamford, Lincoln, Newark, Nottingham, Peterborough but not Grantham.

The Stamford branch, for example, is already taking bookings, but the website of the Grantham branch encourages people to https://www.pizzaexpress.com/grantham [L+] 'sign up to be the first when we re-open.'[.L]

When the Grantham branch finally re-opens, like the others, a raft of social distancing and related measures will operate to help ensure the safety of staff and customers.