Pizza Hut giving up lease on Worthing restaurant

A notice in the restaurant’s window shows that bookmaker William Hill has applied for a betting licence at the premises.

A spokesperson for Pizza Hut said: “We continually evaluate the location of our restaurants to ensure they are in the best possible areas to meet consumer demand, and won’t be renewing our lease of our South Street restaurant in September.

“We have other popular dine in restaurants in Brighton, Chichester and Bognor so will still have a strong presence in the region. All our staff will be relocated to other restaurants in the local area where possible.”

Sharon Clarke, Worthing’s town centre manager, said the recent influx of bookmakers to the town meant that a retailer or restaurant would be the preferred option to take over as leaseholder.

Mrs Clarke said: “Something that’s more vibrant and interesting would certainly be something we would support.”

She added that Pizza Hut had a ‘good’ reputation and would be missed.