Overview
- Whitbread set out a proposal to exit its last 197 stand‑alone Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Table Table restaurants, with the changes still under consultation and no closure dates confirmed.
- Under the plan, some sites would be turned into about 600 Premier Inn rooms and others could be sold as going concerns, with the company estimating about 3,800 roles may go.
- Whitbread says it expects to keep a significant share of affected staff by moving people into other roles, noting it employs roughly 30,000 in the UK and Ireland and hires about 15,000 each year.
- Local outlets list branches at risk across Lancashire, Swindon and North Devon, and readers describe worry for staff and lost family dining options as well as frustration over prices and service.
- This move follows a 2024 program that converted more than 200 branded restaurants and rolled out in‑hotel dining, which Whitbread says it now plans to extend across Premier Inn sites.