A BARROW restaurant is set to close at the end of this week following growing speculation about its future.

The Restaurant Group, the owner of the Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito chains, announced last month its plans to sell or close 33 outlets.

Restaurant Group, which runs 500 theme restaurants, said it had been a "challenging trading period".

It said its Frankie & Benny's chain had "suffered due to insufficient focus on value, unsuccessful menu development and poor operational execution". Those outlets had lost customers after "significant price increases and the removal of popular value offers".

The company said it was "taking action" to change this, adding it would stick with the Frankie & Benny's brand as it remained "relevant and popular".

Around half of the restaurant closures planned would be across the Frankie and Benny's chain, leaving it with around 235 outlets. The Evening Mail understands the Barrow restaurant is set to close at the end of this week, with the final trading date on Sunday, September 18.

Frankie and Benny’s opened in the building formerly occupied by Blockbuster Video in the Hindpool Retail Park in Barrow on April 27 2013, creating 40 jobs.

After speculation began to mount about the future of the Barrow restaurant, Evening Mail readers began calling for a new eatery to open in its place.

In our poll, we asked readers, if they could only pick one, would they prefer a Nando's or a Burger King to open in Barrow, with almost 500 of you taking part so far. The debate has generated a lot of comments on Facebook too, with the vote seemingly equally split between the two food chains.