Food chains to bring 200 jobs

Hub could reverse rise in jobless

Jobs created by restaurants at the new leisure hub at East Kilbride Shopping Centre could fight rising unemployment in the town.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) have already started recruiting for around 40 jobs each in Nando and Chiquito’s.

Around 200 jobs are to be created with the arrival of high-profile restaurant chains at the new multimillion pound leisure development.

Frankie and Benny’s, Pizza Express, Handmade Burger Co, Bella Italia and Filling Station are all set to open.

This comes as the claimant count in town rose by 14 per cent to 551 from August to September.

However, the annual figures make better reading for East Kilbride residents, with a 39 per cent decrease in job seeker’s allowance claimants on last year.

When split into council areas, East Kilbride Central North had the highest number of claimants with 145. East Kilbride West had the least with just 41.

The annual result was reflected across South Lanarkshire, which saw a drop of over 29 per cent.

A spokesman for DWP said they had high hopes for recruitment over the festive period.

He said: “The national headline figure is that in Scotland unemployment has fallen by 25,000 on the last quarter, the largest fall of any UK region.

“As you can see from the figures, it is a very good picture in South Lanarkshire and East Kilbride regarding the reduction in unemployment figures.

“The Christmas recruitments have all been started through normal advertising and are being filled, with East Kilbride also having the new positions in Nando’s and Chiquito’s.”