A BRANCH of a family favourite restaurant is closing down - with rumours swirling over its "much better" replacement".
The Doncaster branch of Frankie and Benny's will shut its doors on October 21, a staff member claimed on social media.
Posting on Facebook, the insider said: "I work as the kitchen manager at Frankie and Benny's in Doncaster.
"Food prices in the last 12 months have gone crazy - oil alone has gone up by 80 pence per litre and on average about 18 per cent across the board.
"We close the doors for the last time on the 21 October - as it's closing down."
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The Restaurant Group (TRG), which owns Frankie and Benny's, recently paid arch-rivals Big Table £7.5million to take over the chain.
The Doncaster Free Press reports that customers who try to book the restaurant after October 21 get a message saying it is closed.
Forty other branches of Frankie and Benny's have closed over the past year after lockdown and inflation hit the chain hard.
Rumours are now swirling on social media that the Doncaster branch will be replaced by a Wagamama outlet - another TRG brand.
One man said: "I do work for Wagamama. I can confirm it is going to be one. Work starts early next year."
Another said: "Will be Wagamama there soon, that’s the reason for closing down.
A third said: "Gunna be a Wagamama."
The Restaurant Group said: "“We announced a review of our Leisure estate in March and made the difficult decision to exit some of our sites.
"We are working closely with our impacted teams and will look to redeploy colleagues to neighbouring sites across our wider estate wherever possible."
It comes after Wilko staff broke down in tears and thanked loyal shoppers as their store closed down after 26 years.
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