Whitbread has confirmed the final closing dates for its 261 branded restaurants, including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, as it shifts focus to its Premier Inn hotel chain. The closures will result in around 3,800 job losses across the UK and Ireland.
Brands affected and closure schedule
The brands set to disappear are Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table, Cookhouse + Pub, and Bar + Block. Bar + Block, with 20 locations, will close on September 3. Table Table will close 32 sites on the same day, followed by Cookhouse + Pub's 14 branches on September 3 as well. Brewers Fayre, founded in 1981, will close on September 7, and Beefeater, operating since 1974, will shut all its sites on September 10.
Sale of 53 sites to Queensway
Whitbread has reached an agreement for the conditional sale of 53 branded restaurant sites to Queensway Hospitality Group, subject to final conditions. If completed, the sale will transfer 53 sites and up to 900 employees to Queensway, which intends to operate them as going concerns. The sale includes sites from all five brands.
Strategic shift to Premier Inn
Whitbread announced on April 30 that it would become "a pure-play hotel business focused on Premier Inn." The company plans to convert some restaurants into approximately 600 additional Premier Inn rooms and sell the remainder as going concerns. This builds on plans announced in 2024 that converted over 200 restaurants and created an "integrated restaurant" in each hotel.
Whitbread acknowledged the impact on staff, stating: "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."
