Pizza Hut has announced two of its restaurants in Kent will close for good as part of major restructuring in the wake of Covid-19.

The sites in The Mall in Maidstone , and Imperial Retail Park in Gravesend , are two out of 29 across the UK that will close permanently from next year.

It's expected to put around 450 jobs at risk nationwide.

It comes days after rival Pizza Express approved the closure of 73 of its sites, hitting more than 1,100 workers.

Pizza Hut said it has put forward the proposals but “sales are not expected to fully bounce back until well into 2021”.

A spokeswoman for the chain said: “We are doing everything we can to redeploy our team members from our Pizza Hut Restaurants locations that are closing and minimise the impact to our workforce.

“We are therefore unable to share exact job loss numbers for each Hut.

“We understand this is a difficult time for everyone involved and are supporting our team members as much as possible throughout this transition.”

The measures introduced aim to protect more than 5,000 jobs across its remaining restaurants as well as the “longevity” of the business, it said.

The move will not affect the operations or jobs at Pizza Hut Delivery or related franchises.

It is the latest of a raft of dining chains to launch a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) deal to avoid collapse.

Bosses were forced to renegotiate their rents through the CVA restructuring deal after revealing it faced “significant disruption” from the pandemic.

Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone

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