THE future of the Pizza Esxpress restaurant at intu Lakeside appears secure, despite news that the chain is set to close up to 67 of its 449 outlets.

That would mean up to 1,100 people losing their jobs but the posts at the Lakeside restaurant, on the centre's food court, seem safe as it is currently open.

The company closed all its UK restaurants on 23 March after the government-mandated lockdown. Restaurants, including Thurrock's, were allowed to reopen in July.

However, the statement was then qualified and a spokesperson said: "We cannot say at this time which branches will be closing, further information regarding these will be announced next week. We have already re-opened 160 restaurants and later this week we will announce a further 80 that will be opening. There are no plans to close the stores that will have re-opened."

Zoe Bowley, UK and Ireland managing director for Pizza Express, said that while the financial restructuring would be a "positive step forward", the closures would be "incredibly sad for our Pizza Express family and we will do everything we can to support our teams at this time."

Previously, Pizza Express has said the majority of its restaurants are profitable. The company said the restructuring would put the business on a stronger financial footing in the new socially distanced environment.

Pizza Express has heavy debts and last year was known to have started talks to put its debts of more than £1bn on more favourable terms.

It is expected to announce a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in the near future, which is an insolvency procedure that allows a company with debt problems to reach agreement with creditors regarding payment of all, or part of its debts.