Frankie and Benny's confirms closure of Hartlepool restaurant

The chain, owned by The Restaurant Group, has previously announced jobs would go across the firm due to a £40 million pre-tax loss, with 33 under-performing sites to close under a review.

Now its leaders have confirmed the Hartlepool branch, which opened on the Anchor Retail Park last year in the former Burger King building, is to shut.

The the number of jobs which will be lost by the decision is yet to be confirmed, but the company has said it will close on Sunday, September 30.

A spokesman for the firm 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.

"In light of this backdrop, we have taken the difficult decision to close the Frankie and Benny’s site in Hartlepool."

It also has branches in Middlesbrough, Dalton Park in Murton, Stockton, at the Arnison Centre in Durham, Washington, Sunderland and Newcastle.

The Restaurant Group is also behind Chiquito, Coast To Coast and Brunning & Price.

Retail park chiefs and the company confirmed it would be welcoming the business to 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 had closed 12 months earlier, shutting suddenly, with bailiffs moving in to repossess the premises.

It had been run as a franchise under the name Windmill (NI) Restaurants, which was then wound up.