Nearly 400 jobs are to go at the Ed's Easy Diner chain following its sale in a 'pre-pack' deal with administrators, but jobs at the Norwich restaurant are safe.

Giraffe Concepts, part of the restaurant arm of food mogul Ranjit Boparan, is acquiring 33 of the company's restaurants, securing around 700 jobs, but a further 26 branches are to close, resulting in 379 redundancies.

The closures do not affect the Ed's Easy Diner restaurant in the intu Chapelfield shopping centre in Norwich.

It is the latest in a string of acquisitions by Mr Boparan, with the so-called 'chicken king' having last month snapped up turkey meat producer Bernard Matthews from private equity group Rutland Partners in another pre-pack deal through his food manufacturing company 2 Sisters Food Group.

Giraffe is also a relatively new member of Boparan Restaurant Holdings, having been bought from Tesco for an undisclosed sum in June this year.