BARNSLEY’S nearest Pizza Hut will be more than six miles away after the closure of its site on the edge of the town centre due to a lack of ‘consumer demand’.

The restaurant off Harborough Hill Road closed this week – leaving the retail park without an eatery, after an application for a drive-through Starbucks was rejected in June.

A spokesman for Pizza Hut said: “We continually evaluate the location of our restaurants to ensure they are in the best possible areas to meet consumer demand and have decided to close our restaurant unit on Harborough Hill Road.

“We have our more modern and popular restaurant only six miles away in Cortonwood and will still have a strong presence in the area and we are confident our customers will continue to visit us.”

The application for the Starbucks, which was rejected on the grounds that the development comprised a ‘town centre use... in an out of centre location’, is currently under appeal.