Frankie and Benny’s in Swindon announces immediate closure

Frankie & Benny’s has served its last meal at the Greenbridge Retail and Leisure Park, having officially closed on Sunday.

The menu signs were being taken off the outside of the building on Monday morning after the restaurant’s final weekend in operation.

An employee outside the establishment, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Adver: "We're now permanently closed from today.

The news comes after the closure of the nearby Empire Cinema. (Image: Dave Cox)

“I know it all seems a bit sudden, we only found out about a month ago and we've been told that the agency has sold it or something like that.

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"Apparently the place next door might be looking at buying it and so it could reopen next year as something similar to Frankie and Benny's but that's all rumour right now."

The Restaurant Group PLC owns Frankie & Benny’s and cautioned over job losses after revealing plans to shut several branches in March.

The Adver approached MHP Group, which handles public relations for The Restaurant Group PLC, which did not deny that the restaurant was closing.

The menus were removed from outside the building on Monday morning. (Image: Newsquest)

A spokesperson for the company said: “We announced a review of our leisure estate in March and made the difficult decision to exit some of our sites.

“We are working closely with our impacted teams and will look to redeploy colleagues to neighbouring sites across our wider estate wherever possible.”

One anonymous customer who ate at the restaurant for one final time at the weekend was sad to see it close.

“F&B's has always been the meet-up place for and my friends,” they said.

“We went by chance yesterday for lunch to see a "Goodbye Frankie's" on the counter.”

Swindon's Frankie & Benny's is located at Greenbridge Retail and Leisure Park. (Image: Dave Cox)

The news comes after the next-door cinema Empire closed down in July, seemingly affecting footfall into the restaurant.

Despite the recent news that another cinema chain, Vue, is set to move into the location, Frankie & Benny’s Swindon managers were still worried about the cinema’s prolonged absence.

“Business is not as much with fewer walk-ins so we are losing customers,” said assistant manager Suraj Lotlekar at the time of the cinema’s closure.

“With no cinema those who usually come, we have lost, but we are still getting some walk-ins each day.

“We are not massively affected by this closure but we have noticed a difference.”