Burger King closes at Monks Cross, York (From York Press)

Burger King closes at Monks Cross, York

7:31am Wednesday 11th October 2006 in News By Press reporter

UP to 20 staff at a York Burger King restaurant are understood to have lost their jobs after the business suddenly closed down.

A spokeswoman for Burger King said the restaurant at Monks Cross, which was operated by Cairnserve Ltd, shut yesterday.

She said: "As part of the normal course of business, some restaurants close when locations and operations are no longer viable or economically profitable. At the same time, we continue to look for opportunities to grow our estate where it makes economic sense for us to do so."

She was unable to comment on claims by a source that staff had been sent home after turning up to work as normal yesterday, and that about 20 people had been made redundant. Nor could she comment on claims that a number of other Burger Kings had shut elsewhere in the country.

Meanwhile, officials at City of York Council are still waiting to talk to management at a high-tech science firm, Accent Optical Technologies, following claims that redundancies are on the way at the Haxby Road business.

The Press yesterday reported claims by sources that manufacturing is set to be transferred from York to Asia, with the loss of an unknown number of jobs.

The company, which was unable to comment on the claims on Monday, said yesterday it was still unable to do so.

A council spokeswoman said: "We have asked for an update on the latest position."