BY Sam Walker | Thursday 30 October 2025
Commercial property developer Wykeland Group has secured Pizza Express for the ground floor of Hull’s historic Burton House.
Pizza Express is one of the UK’s most-loved and successful restaurant brands and is taking a prime position in the city’s art deco landmark, which has undergone a stunning rejuvenation to restore it to its original 1930s glory.
The fit-out of the restaurant is underway, with Pizza Express hoping to open in the former Burton menswear building before Christmas.
At the entrance to Whitefriargate and overlooking Queen Victoria Square, Burton House is one of Hull’s most distinctive and characterful buildings. Designed for company founder Montague Burton by famed Chief Architect Henry Wilson, the building has stood empty since 2020, when Burton owner Arcadia Group went into administration.
Wykeland purchased the building in 2021 with support from £750,000 of Hull City Council's Levelling Up Funding and £450,000 from Historic England through the High Street Heritage Action Zone.
Since then, it has delivered an extensive restoration to the exterior and key parts of the interior of the building.
Burton House now offers 12,700 sq ft of prime city centre space, set over five floors, all within one of Hull’s most recognisable buildings.
Jonathan Stubbs, Development Director of Hull-based Wykeland, said: “We’re delighted to have secured Pizza Express as our first occupier at Burton House.
“We embarked on this challenging restoration project with the vision of saving one of Hull’s landmark buildings from dereliction, creating a thriving commercial space in the heart of the city centre. The opening of Pizza Express will return the building to active use, with a much-loved restaurant brand in place.
“We’ve also seen strong interest in the upper floors at Burton House, underlining the demand for high-quality commercial space in a prime location.”
Pizza Express was founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Boizot in 1965 with the opening of a single restaurant in London’s Soho. The concept was an instant hit, revolutionising the UK restaurant scene by bringing casual dining to the high street.
Today, Pizza Express is one of Britain’s best-loved restaurant brands, with more than 470 pizzerias across the UK and has expanded to 12 countries.
Pizza Express is now part of millions of people’s lives, but its ethos of a simple, high-quality menu with warm service has remained unchanged.
The restaurant group has leased 2,400 sq ft of ground floor space at Burton House, as well as 1,600 sq ft of basement area.
Central to the £2.4m restoration of Burton House was the replacement of much of the granite cladding which adorns the building. Replacement granite was sourced from the same quarry in Norway, to match the geographical origin of the original stone, which dates back to the mid-1930s.
The building’s art deco windows have also been replaced, with new signage matching the original also introduced.
On the upper floors, significant restoration work has already seen the original lift refurbished, and work has commenced on creating desirable office spaces which are ready for occupiers to move straight into.
The offices, due for completion in December, are loft-style spaces with an exposed brick aesthetic, complete with new flooring, kitchen facilities and toilets.
The first, second and third floors each cover 2,500 sq ft, and are perfectly suited for office and wider commercial uses.
Restoration of Burton House is the latest significant city centre regeneration project led by Wykeland. The company has also restored Hull’s Castle Buildings in a £2m project, which was also awarded more than £162,000 from the council’s government-backed fund, to bring another Hull landmark back into use.
