City restaurant shuts just one year after opening

A CITY centre restaurant has been shut down, just a year after opening.

Vapiano, on Buchanan Street, has closed with immediate effect leaving customers disappointed.

The Italian eatery opened in the former George Hotel building in January last year.

The launch created 55 jobs and followed the earlier opening of an Edinburgh branch, the firm’s first outlet in Scotland.

A refurbishment of the building saw developers create a 293-seated capacity restaurant, complete with restored Victorian stained-glass windows.

A company spokesman said: “We would not have enjoyed this past year without the local community here in Glasgow many of whom are now friends, and we do appreciate how important Vapiano has been to many regulars and tourists visiting the city.

“However while this is very sad, we believe this is the right commercial decision for the long term benefit of the UK business- it was quite simply the wrong location’

“We are in discussions with our team about the future, having already assured them they will be looked after.

“Vapiano will focus on their existing restaurants in Edinburgh, Manchester and London which are trading well above expectation serving over 45,000 guests a week collectively.”