Carluccio’s restaurant in Leamington has been saved from closure

Carluccio’s restaurant in Leamington has been named as one of the 30 branches that will be saved.

The restaurant chain has been bought out in a rescue deal which will save 30 of its restaurants.

The Italian-style brand has been purchased by Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner owner, Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), saving 800 jobs.

However, administrator FRP Advisory said it was unable to secure the future of the chain’s other 40 restaurants, resulting in 1,019 redundancies.

These are the locations of the 30 Carluccio restaurants that will form part of the BRG estate:

Beverley

Bluewater

Cribbs Causeway, Bristol

Cambridge

Cheshire Oaks, Chester

Chichester

Colchester

Derby

Dublin

Kingston Bentalls

Leamington

Trinity Leeds, Leeds

London-Islington Development Kitchen

Marriott Heathrow

Marriott Regents Park

Richmond

South Kensington

St Christopher’s Place

St Pancras Station

Waterloo Station

Wimbledon

Manchester Piccadilly

Manchester Trafford Centre

Portsmouth

Reading

Sheffield

Solihull

Southampton

Stratford on Avon

Walton on Thames

Why did Carluccio’s fall into administration?

The restaurant chain entered administration at the end of March after struggling to stay afloat due to the coronavirus lockdown. It blamed “challenging trading conditions, which had been exacerbated by Covid-19”.

Phil Reynolds, joint administrator and partner at FRP, said, "The Covid-19 lockdown has put incredible pressure on businesses across the leisure sector, so it has been important to work as quickly and as decisively as possible in an extremely challenging business environment to secure a sale.

"It ensures the future of the Carluccio's brand in the UK casual dining scene, retains a significant network of sites across the country and, critically, transfers a considerable number of jobs."

What will happen to the saved branches?

It has been reported in trade press that BRG purchased the 30 restaurants for around £3 million, and it plans to convert some sites to brands in its portfolio, including Slim Chickens.

Satnam Leihal, managing director of BRG, said, "We welcome Carluccio's colleagues to BRG.

"This acquisition is in line with our strategy to grow our restaurant group with quality brands.

"Whilst it is an extremely challenging time for the sector, we believe quality hospitality businesses will recover in the long term as people return to eating out."