Beefeater has confirmed that its final five restaurants in Scotland will cease trading on September 10, 2026, as part of owner Whitbread PLC's five-year plan to exit the restaurant business entirely.
The family-friendly pub chain, known for its signature steak dishes, informed rewards members that all 106 UK outlets will close on that date. The communication reportedly read: "As you may have seen, we have recently announced changes to our business, which is resulting in the closure of our Branded Restaurants. This means that on Thursday 10 September 2026 your local Beefeater and all other UK Beefeaters will close."
Scottish branches affected
The five Beefeater locations in Scotland that will close are Dundee Centre and Gourdie Croft in Dundee, Lady Nairne in Edinburgh, Deer Park in Livingston, and Townhead Street in Hamilton. The company's loyalty scheme is also set to end on August 31.
Established in 1974, Beefeater built a loyal following for British steakhouse classics. Its sister chain Brewers Fayre is also expected to close, though no date has been confirmed.
Whitbread's restructuring plan
Owner Whitbread PLC announced a five-year plan in April to restructure, exiting the restaurant business to focus on hotels. Bar + Block restaurants, including two in Scotland, are also earmarked for closure. The aim is to "re-focus the business and reduce costs by £250 million," by shifting to an integrated food and drink model better suited to Premier Inn guests, as reported by the Herald.
Dominic Paul, Whitbread’s chief executive, said: "We always challenge ourselves to improve and, in light of significant cost increases in the form of business rates and national insurance, as well as the implied market discount to our inherent value, we’ve looked hard at the options open to us to maximise value creation over the medium and long-term. This has been a rigorous process and we’ve approached all options with an open mind. Our new five-year plan builds on our strengths and drives a significant acceleration of our strategy. This plan will transform Whitbread into a higher-margin, higher-returning pure-play hotel business. We’re going to go further and faster to deliver a great experience for our guests and high-quality growth and returns for our shareholders."
The strategy involves converting restaurants into additional Premier Inn rooms and selling around £1.5 billion of freehold properties to fund growth. Whitbread currently owns about 86,600 hotel rooms and aims to reach 96,000 by the 2031 financial year.
Job losses and redeployment
The changes are expected to result in around 3,800 job losses. Whitbread, which recruits about 15,000 people annually, said it aims to redeploy many affected employees within the wider business. A spokesperson said: "We recognise the impact of this proposal on colleagues who work at the affected sites. As a business which recruits around 15,000 people every year, we expect to be able to retain a significant proportion of those affected and will be looking to redeploy as many of our impacted colleagues as possible. However, we do anticipate that the proposed changes, which are subject to consultation, would result in a reduction of around 3,800 roles of a total UK and Ireland workforce of around 30,000. We will do all we can to support those colleagues affected."
