Frankie and Benny's to close 18 restaurants in bid to cut £5m costs

The Restaurant Group expects to save £5m by closing 23 "loss-making restaurants" by the end of this month, including four Chiquito restaurants and a single Firejacks located in Basildon.

Frankie and Benny’s restaurants at Valley Centertainment and Meadowhall are not on the list of closures, which includes sites in Leeds, Birmingham and Blackpool.

A Restaurant Group spokesperson told The Sun: "We announced a review of our leisure estate in March and made the difficult decision to exit some of our Frankie and Benny's and Chiquito sites. We are working closely with our impacted teams and will look to redeploy colleagues to neighbouring sites across our wider estate wherever possible."

The Restaurant Group currently runs 410 venues across the UK which includes the brands Frankie and Benny's, Chiquito, Wagamamas, Brunning & Price and Coast to Coast.