Is it just ME?

Or is the death of the chain restaurant a tragedy?

MY LOVE of chain restaurants started when I was at boarding school.

It was a ten-minute walk to Italian eaterie ASK on the High Street and we would be marched there by kindly parents as a treat for our birthdays.

I always had Penne Al Pollo Della Casa, pasta with chicken breast and button mushrooms, bubbling with cheese and cream.

During the holidays, my girlfriends and I swapped our devotion to Pizza Express on the King’s Road in Chelsea and would pool our allowances to share a Margherita (it was the cheapest) and a packet of cigarettes.

This was the early 2000s when chain restaurants were blossoming. There was also Cafe Rouge, Zizzi, Strada and Carluccio’s.

Now suddenly, my beloved High Street restaurants are in trouble. According to recent figures, 1,123 ‘midmarket’ restaurant chains have become insolvent this year, up a third from 2017.

Jamie’s Italian, Carluccio’s and Byron all have cash problems. Diners who want Instagram pictures in trendier restaurants are being blamed, but I’ll wager that Deliveroo and an increased awareness ofhealthy eating hasn’t helped.

I now know Penne Al Pollo Della Casa contains 842 calories. Nearly half a day’s allowance! Little wonder I could never shift my puppy fat as a teen.

The decline is sad news though, because if there’s a choice, I still always plump for a chain over somewhere ‘new’. You know what you’re getting in a chain.

They’re reliable, childfriendly, not madly expensive and you never need to book because they’ve almost certainly got spare tables.

Penne Al Pollo Della Casa for me, every time.

I’ll always plump for a chain over somewhere new. Penne Al Pollo Della Casa for me, every time