THE Carluccio's restaurants in Chester city centre and at Cheshire Oaks have both been saved after the dining chain was bought out of administration.

A rescue deal has been struck which will prevent 30 of its 70 restaurants from closing, saving a total of 800 jobs in the process.

The dining chain has been bought by Giraffe and Ed's Easy Diner owner Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG).

Sadly, administrators FRP Advisory said it was unable to secure the future of Carluccio's 40 other restaurants, resulting in 1,019 redundancies.

The restaurants in Chester and at Cheshire Oaks are among the 30 that have been saved.

The chain had collapsed into administration back in March.

Phil Reynolds, joint administrator and partner at FRP, said: "The Covid-19 lockdown has put incredible pressure on businesses across the leisure sector, so it has been important to work as quickly and as decisively as possible in an extremely challenging business environment to secure a sale.

"It ensures the future of the Carluccio's brand in the UK casual dining scene, retains a significant network of sites across the country and, critically, transfers a considerable number of jobs."

Satnam Leihal, managing director of BRG, said: "We welcome Carluccio's colleagues to BRG.

"This acquisition is in line with our strategy to grow our restaurant group with quality brands.

"Whilst it is an extremely challenging time for the sector, we believe quality hospitality businesses will recover in the long term as people return to eating out."