The closure of Grantham's Pizza Express has been confirmed.

The restaurant chain announced on Tuesday night that the venue in the George Centre and High Street would not re-open as part of a nationwide closure programme.

Earlier this month, as reported by Nub News, Pizza Express said it sought to close 68 outlets in a bid to save the rest of the company, which was put up for sale.

Tonight (Tuesday) national media reported the company had announced the closure of 73 of its 454 restaurants, also listing the venues to close.

The closures, which will see 1100 jobs lost, come as the company formally launched a company voluntary arrangement in a bid to restructure the group and keep it afloat.

A company statement said most of its restaurants had traded profitably before lockdown, but their earnings had been declining over the past three years.

A collapse in earnings due to lockdown, coupled with the cost of re-opening restaurants and uncertainty over the economy, meant that the rents paid on premises were too much for Pizza Express to bear.

Zoe Bowley, Pizza Express UK & Ireland Managing Director, commented: "The announcement of the CVA proposal today (Tuesday) follows a period of constructive dialogue with the British Property Federation and a broad range of our landlords.

"We have taken onboard their feedback and accommodated their requests as far as possible.

"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."

The closure programme will also include the Pizza Express in Melton Mowbray, but not the one in Stamford.

Pizza Express said earlier this month that the future of restaurants already open were secure. By then, the Stamford restaurant had already re-opened.

The closure of the Grantham Pizza Express will come as another blow to the George Centre, which also suffered the loss of major tenant Feelgood Fitness last month, as also reported by Nub News.