ITALIAN restaurant chain Carluccio’s is to become the latest food outlet at Oxford Castle to close, with the loss of 27 jobs, it was announced tonight.

The restaurant, which opened in 2005, has been placed on the market – despite the company recording an eight per cent increase in turnover in the past year.

The news comes just three days after upmarket burger chain Tootsies, one of the original restaurants at the complex, closed down with the loss of 19 jobs. Ha! Ha! Bar and Canteen was the first to go, when it closed in January.

Carluccio’s managing director Simon Kossoff said: “Oxford is one of our least good performers.

“We said in our trading report we were making provisions against two branches and Oxford is one of them.

“We were obliged to make a write-off, because stores weren’t performing well enough to make a return and it’s best we face up to that and move on.

“I think a branch would work very well elsewhere in Oxford, as we have proven to be very successful in university towns.”

Carluccio’s spokesman Fiona Noblet added that the company hoped to transfer “as many staff as possible” to either its branch at the Bicester Village shopping centre, or any future restaurant in Oxford.