The list of 16 Franco Manca restaurants reportedly set to close has been revealed, after the pizza chain said ‘disproportionately high’ taxes were strangling hospitality businesses.
Half of the doomed branches are reported to be in London, with more than 200 jobs at risk overall from the scaling back.
The chain’s original restaurant in Brixton, which launched in 2008 on a site that has been a pizzeria since 1986, has reportedly been earmarked for closure.
Staff at restaurants in Battersea, Broadway Market, Chiswick, Kilburn, New Oxford Street, Stoke Newington and Tottenham Court Road are also said to have received the same memo.
Casualties outside the capital are understood to include branches in Bishop’s Stortford, Bromley, Cheltenham, Didsbury, Glasgow, Hove, Lincoln and Plymouth.
Franco Manca grew from an original pizzeria at the Brixton site, called Franco’s after its owner, that was bought by founders Giuseppe Mascoli and Bridget Hugo in 2008.
The company was bought by The Fulham Shore, which also owns Mediterranean-themed chain The Real Greek, in 2015. Fulham Shore has since been bought by Japanese food conglomerate Toridoll Holdings.
Fulham Shore boss Marcel Khan said that even restaurants ‘doing all the right things’ are vulnerable to several Government-imposed financial pressures: the national insurance hike, minimum wage increase, and the UK’s 20 per cent VAT rate.
Franco Manca’s first restaurant in Brixton is one of those that has been told it is closing down
Franco Manca is set to shut 16 restaurants after being hit by ‘disproportionately high’ taxes in the UK
Mr Khan confirmed Fulham Shore will launch a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) restructuring process for the Franco Manca business.
It comes two months after bosses hired advisers to look at strategic options including a potential sale or a restructure, per reports in MCA, which also published the list of closures.
The company is understood to be continuing to review future options for the 28-strong Real Greek chain.
Fulham Shore was bought by Japanese restaurant group Toridoll, with backing from investment firm Capdesia, in 2023 for £93.4 million.
Filings by Toridoll covering April to December 2025 showed Fulham Shore’s revenue was down 5.4 percent year-on-year, with both sales and profits for the group marked as ‘bad’.
Mr Khan said: ‘Even restaurant businesses that are doing all the right things from a customer and operational perspective are not immune to widely publicised pressures impacting the hospitality industry.
‘This includes significant increases in national insurance and the national living wage in recent history, as well as a lack of business rates relief for the restaurant sector and disproportionately high VAT in the UK compared with Europe.’
He added: ‘As a result of these external cost pressures, we have to make sure that we are putting our business on a sustainable footing for long-term growth and development.
‘This is why we have taken the difficult decision to undertake a CVA for Franco Manca, which will see a minority proportion of our restaurants closing where they are no longer sustainable in this cost environment.
‘We are deeply saddened by the closures of a minority proportion of our restaurants, and will support our affected team members throughout this process in every way that we can.’
Fulham Shore has been approached for further comment.Â
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List of Franco Manca restaurants set to close as popular pizza chain blames ‘disproportionately high taxes’ – with more than 200 jobs at risk