Pizza Hut, a household name in the UK for over half a century, announced on October 20, 2025, that it will shutter 68 dine-in restaurants and 11 delivery sites across the country, marking another major blow to Britain’s embattled high streets. The closures, which follow the collapse of the company running its UK venues, DC London Pie, will result in more than 1,200 job losses—an outcome that has sent shockwaves through the hospitality sector and left staff and customers alike reeling.
The news broke after DC London Pie, the firm managing Pizza Hut’s UK restaurants, appointed administrators from FTI Consulting. According to Sky News, this move came hot on the heels of a winding-up petition filed by HMRC, the UK’s tax authority, just days earlier. The chain’s UK operation had already been on shaky ground, having entered administration once before in January 2025, when US-based private equity firm Directional Capital stepped in to acquire 139 restaurants from the previous franchisee, Heart with Smart Limited. That earlier rescue, however, appears to have only postponed a deeper crisis.
In a dramatic turn, American hospitality giant Yum! Brands, the global owner of Pizza Hut, swooped in on the day of administration to buy the UK restaurant operation in what’s known as a pre-pack administration deal. This arrangement will save 64 of the affected sites and secure the future of approximately 1,276 workers, with around 2,259 team members—including above-restaurant leaders and support teams—transferring to the new Yum! equity business under UK TUPE legislation. As a spokesperson for Pizza Hut UK put it, the company was “pleased to secure the continuation of 64 sites to safeguard our guest experience and protect the associated jobs.”
Nicolas Burquier, Managing Director of Pizza Hut Europe and Canada, described the acquisition as a “targeted” effort that “aims to safeguard our guest experience and protect jobs where possible.” He emphasized that the “immediate priority is operational continuity at the acquired locations and supporting colleagues through the transition.” Despite these assurances, for the more than 1,200 workers facing redundancy, the news was a bitter pill to swallow. Some staff reportedly arrived at work on Monday morning only to be sent home without pay and with little information about their future. As one employee in Leeds told the Yorkshire Evening Post, “We had no idea of what was happening.”
The full list of restaurants set to close has not been disclosed, but the impact is being felt nationwide. Pizza Hut’s UK footprint has shrunk dramatically over the years, from more than 600 locations at its peak in the 1990s to just 132 as of this month, according to the Daily Mail. The chain’s decline has mirrored the broader struggles of the UK’s casual dining sector, which has been battered by rising costs, lower consumer spending, and fierce competition from delivery apps. Gary Hemming of abcfinance.co.uk told the Daily Mail, “Pizza Hut’s second collapse in just nine months is a stark warning for the hospitality sector. When a business enters administration twice within a year, with £40 million in unpaid debt and an HMRC winding-up petition, it signals fundamental structural problems that quick-fix rescue deals simply can’t solve.”
Analysts say the core issue isn’t unique to Pizza Hut. Many established restaurant chains are struggling to adapt to a “post-2020 world” where energy costs have soared (up 300 percent, by some estimates), labor shortages are driving wages higher, and customers are increasingly opting for delivery over dining in. “These businesses are carrying pre-2020 property portfolios in a post-2020 world,” Hemming added, noting that January’s pre-pack administration “failed to address core problems, and now workers are paying the price again.”
Isabelle Shepherd, a partner at HaysMac, echoed these concerns in comments to GB News: “This news highlights the continued challenges hospitality businesses face due to falling consumer demand. Budget uncertainty has prompted falls in spending, causing falling sales for many restaurant chains. The pizza market is particularly competitive with many new entrants taking market share, which has reduced demand for some of the more established brands who may be seen as less exciting. The increases in national insurance and the national living wage in April have compounded liquidity and cost issues.”
Indeed, the UK’s retail and hospitality sectors are enduring one of their toughest years in recent memory. Research from the Centre of Retail Research projects as many as 17,000 shop closures throughout 2025, with major retailers and banks also leaving the high street. The reasons are all too familiar: rising business costs, shifts in shopping habits to online, increased competition, and higher taxes. For Pizza Hut, the added pressure of Domino’s overtaking it as the world’s largest pizza seller by sales in 2017 was another sign of changing times. According to SEC filings cited by the Daily Mail, Domino’s global retail sales exceeded $12.2 billion that year, while Pizza Hut reported $12.03 billion.
Pizza Hut’s UK story is a microcosm of the wider changes sweeping through the sector. Founded in 1958 in the United States, the chain arrived on British shores in 1973, opening its first restaurant in Islington. The 1980s saw explosive growth, with the company opening an average of one restaurant per week. The 1990s brought innovations like stuffed crust pizza—heavily promoted and now a staple on menus worldwide. The brand’s advertising campaigns became part of UK pop culture, featuring stars like Gareth Southgate and Damon Hill.
But nostalgia and brand recognition have proven no match for the economic headwinds of recent years. The collapse of Heart with Smart Limited last year, which left nearly £40 million in debt to investor Pricoa Capital, set off a chain of events that even two pre-pack administrations couldn’t fully reverse. Directional Capital’s attempt to steady the ship by creating DC London Pie Limited to manage operations ultimately succumbed to the same pressures facing the rest of the industry.
For customers, the closures mean saying goodbye to familiar lunchtime buffets, salad bars, and iconic ice cream dispensers. For workers, many of whom have been through months of uncertainty, it’s a reminder of the precariousness of jobs in hospitality—even at brands that once seemed untouchable. Gift card holders may also be affected, as their cards remain valid only in restaurants and for just 12 months.
The Pizza Hut saga is just the latest chapter in the ongoing story of Britain’s high street struggles. As the dust settles, the hope is that the 64 rescued sites can weather the storm and that lessons learned here might help safeguard other beloved brands from a similar fate.
