Hartlepool branch of Frankie and Benny's goes on the market after company confirms closure

Frankie and Benny's, at Anchor Retail Park, was earmarked for closure at the start of September, and shut up shop on Sunday.

The Hartlepool branch of the restaurant is now on a "for sale" list, along with eight others. The chain is owned by The Restaurant Group.

Branches of Frankie and Benny's in Middlesbrough, Chelmsford and High Wycombe are also on the market through Savills, as well as Chiquito resturants in Croydon and Southampton.

The Italian-American chain announced it was starting up at the Hartlepool site in July 2016, when planning permission for changes to the building, including an extension and alterations, were approved by Hartlepool Borough Council.

Burger King, which occupied the site before F&B's, closed suddenly 12 months earlier.

Speaking to the Mail earlier this month, a spokesman for The Restaurant Group said: "The structural decline across retail has been well documented and unfortunately this has impacted certain sites within our portfolio, particularly where we are facing difficult headwinds from property costs, amongst other things."

Thirty-one other sites in The Restaurant Group's portfolio have already been sold.

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Stuart Stares, associate in the licensed leisure team at Savills, added: “We are pleased to be marketing these additional properties on behalf of The Restaurant Group, following the success we have had with their disposal programme to date.

"The diverse mix of locations should appeal to established retail and leisure operators as well as new entrants.”

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