THE owner of a popular fast-food chain in Brighton has revealed his heartbreaking reason for downsizing.

Longstanding Brighton burger chain Grubbs is understood to have sold three of its four stores in York Place, St James’s Street and Lewes Road.

But owner Timothy Davies is keeping the original store in Western Road.

It is part of the 70-year-olds plans to downsize due to the "very traumatic year" he faced in 2020.

Mr Davies lost his wife during the pandemic in a tragic car accident and also suffered from the virus himself.

He told The Argus: "I have sold them. I'm just keeping Western Road.

"I'm 70, my wife passed last year in the pandemic and I have had the virus - I have had enough.

"I think everyone at 70 is over chancing it anyway.

"Due to the ongoing effects of the virus, I can't really work.

"It was a very traumatic year.

"It is a combination of everything."

The fast-food restaurant has been a feature of Brighton since it opened 40 years ago in 1979.

A city institution for almost four decades, it at one point offered a selection of more than 15 burgers.

The burgers were deemed so good, that in 2014, four cops were spotted by a passer-by in Western Road, Hove, as they queued at the burger bar.