New photo Is it just me? Or is the death of the chain restaurant a tragedy? asks SOPHIA MONEY-COUTTS

My love of chain restaurants started when I was at boarding school.

It was a ten-minute walk to Italian eaterie ASK on the High Street and we would be marched there by kindly parents as a treat for our birthdays.

I always had Penne Al Pollo Della Casa, pasta with chicken breast and button mushrooms, bubbling with cheese and cream.

During the holidays, my girlfriends and I swapped our devotion to Pizza Express on the King’s Road in Chelsea and would pool our allowances to share a Margherita (it was the cheapest) and a packet of cigarettes.

Sophia Money-Coutts questions the decline of chain restaurants in favour of trying somewhere 'new' (file image) 

This was the early 2000s when chain restaurants were blossoming. There was also Cafe Rouge, Zizzi, Strada and Carluccio’s.

Now suddenly, my beloved High Street restaurants are in trouble. According to recent figures, 1,123 ‘mid-market’ restaurant chains have become insolvent this year, up a third from 2017.

Jamie’s Italian, Carluccio’s and Byron all have cash problems. Diners who want Instagram pictures in trendier restaurants are being blamed, but I’ll wager that Deliveroo and an increased awareness of healthy eating hasn’t helped.

I now know Penne Al Pollo Della Casa contains 842 calories. Nearly half a day’s allowance! Little wonder I could never shift my puppy fat as a teen.

The decline is sad news though, because if there’s a choice, I still always plump for a chain over somewhere ‘new’. You know what you’re getting in a chain.

They’re reliable, child-friendly, not madly expensive and you never need to book because they’ve almost certainly got spare tables.

Penne Al Pollo Della Casa for me, every time.

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News Pictures Is it just me? Or is the death of the chain restaurant a tragedy? asks SOPHIA MONEY-COUTTS

You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!

TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st

To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.

Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”

Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”

kim cattrall

Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb

SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.

Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
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