Jamie Oliver is closing two of his Jamie’s Italian restaurants in London on the back of tough trading since the Brexit vote.
Outlets in Richmond and Ludgate Hill will be closed and sold off by the end of March, the celebrity chef announced on Friday.
Four other restuarants will be closed across England and Scotland and a total of 120 employees will be affected.
Mr Oliver said he was trying to find them jobs in another Jamie's Italian restuarant as a matter of priority.
Simon Blagden, chief executive of the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, said: “As every restaurant owner knows, this is a tough market and post-Brexit, the pressures and unknowns have made it even harder."
He said the restaurant closures had been forced by a combination of expensive ingredients, staff training and lower footfall.
"Because we refuse to compromise on the quality and provenance of our ingredients and our commitment to training and developing our staff, we need restaurants that can serve an average of 3000 covers every week to be sustainable," he added.
The closures represent less than 5 per cent of total turnover and impact less than 5 per cent of staff.
The restaurant group intends to expand its Barbecoa brand and open 22 Jamie’s Italian restaurants abroad this year.
There are currenntly 13 Jamie’s Italian restaurants in the London and 29 more across the UK. Over 36 are run abroad under his name.
