SKIPTON'S Wildwood Restaurant has closed unexpectedly.

The restaurant, which had a shared access to Skipton Town Hall, closed on Wednesday. It is described online as 'permanently closed'.

The Wildwood chain of pizza, pasta, and grill restaurants - which has more than 40 outlets across the country - has already removed the Skipton branch from its website.

Yesterday, the PA News Agency reported that Tasty - the restaurant firm behind the Wildwood chain announced it was closing around 20 loss-making restaurants after a 'challenging' start to the year.

The restructuring plan would see the group shut 18 restaurants, with two sites already closed to customers.

Tasty currently has 43 Wildwood restaurants in operation, six Dim-T pan-Asian restaurants, two non-trading sites, and three sub-let venues.

The restaurant was housed in the town hall complex, which is owned by North Yorkshire Council, and was part of the hall's multi-million-pound redevelopment.