Ed’s Easy Diner, the retro-American diner, has announced it is closing some of its restaurants.

The chain, famous for its vintage look with jukeboxes, pillarbox red seats and memorabilia, has four restaurants in Birmingham.

Today, the company has announced it has been sold to Giraffe Concepts Limited, part of Boparan Restaurant Holdings – the group which also owns Harry Ramsdens, Fishworks and The Cinnamon Collection.

In addition to acquiring the Ed’s Easy Diner brand, the sale will see Giraffe Concepts acquire 33 restaurants and the company’s head office team, securing around 700 jobs.

But, a further 26 diners - almost half - will close with immediate effect, unfortunately resulting in 379 redundancies.

The cardboard cut-out woman

There are Ed’s Easy Diners in Bullring, Grand Central, Selfridges and at the Barclaycard Arena.

At the moment the company is saying all four in the city will remain open.

Take a look at what to expect at Birmingham's new Cereal Killer Cafe:

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“Ed’s Easy Diner has been an integral part of the UK casual dining scene for the past four decades and we are very excited about the business joining the group and the opportunities ahead,” says Tom Crowley, managing director of Giraffe Concepts Ltd.

Ed’s Easy Diner first opened in the Soho district of London more than 25 years ago as the place to go to listen to Elvis, eat hamburgers and guzzle milkshakes.

Money from their jukeboxes is donated to the Action Against Hunger charity.