Prezzo pizza to quit suburb as locals object to national chains
ONE of Moseley’s two national pizza giants is to quit the suburb after apparently losing a year-long war for customers with its direct rival and neighbour.
Local residents have spent recent years fighting to keep national chains out of the area which prides itself on having a ‘bohemian’ feel.
But it seemed as though campaigners were engaged in a losing battle as Prezzo, Pizza Express, Costa Coffee and, more recently, M&S Foodhall have all opened in Moseley since summer 2016.
Now it would seem that the locals’ unwillingness to welcome the big hitters en masse has brought its first casualty. Prezzo only opened in Alcester Road in July 2016 following the conversion of a former Halfords Autocentre but it is set to close early in the new year.
The site had originally been earmarked by Boston Tea Party which had been looking to build on the success of its Harborne and Corporation Street cafés.
But after winning planning permission the Bristol-based company pulled out in the spring of 2016 and this summer opened a restaurant in Edgbaston instead. Prezzo then opened for business only to be joined two months later by its Italian restaurant rival Pizza Express which began trading in the unit next door but one.
Now Prezzo is believed to have sold its site and is expected to have moved out by February. The restau- rant is set to be taken over by the Loungers café bar chain.
Neither Loungers nor Prezzo responded officially to a request for details of the deal.
But a Prezzo source said the site had been sold and that it was likely it would close in February with staff being dispersed to other sites, which include Harborne and Shirley, where the company is also in direct competition with Pizza Express.
The restaurant is set to be replaced by another ‘Lounge’ bar run by Loungers Limited, which has branches in Mere Green, Harborne, Kings Heath, Shirley and Wylde Green. The outlets are individually designed and informal and have different names such as Mere Green’s Renato Lounge in honour of the late Save Your Love chart star who used to live locally.
It has submitted a licensing application for the Moseley site, with any representations to be made in writing by December 4.