Whitbread PLC

Whitbread, the operator of restaurant chains including Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Bar + Block, Table Table, Whitbread Inns, and Cookhouse + Pub, has announced plans to close all of its 261 restaurants as part of a strategy to become a pure-play hotel business centered on its Premier Inn brand. The closures began on September 3 with the shutdown of the Bar + Block steakhouse chain, followed by the closure of 32 Table Table and 14 Cookhouse + Pub locations that same day, 89 Brewers Fayre sites on September 7, and 106 Beefeater restaurants on September 10. Whitbread CEO Dominic Paul cited significant cost increases in business rates and national insurance, as well as an implied market discount to inherent value, as reasons for the move, which will cut approximately 3,800 roles from its 30,000-strong UK and Ireland workforce and reduce food and beverage sales by up to £160 million and profits by £10 million. Of the 261 sites, 53 have been sold to Queensway Inns, which plans to relaunch them as a new chain of value pubs, while about 600 additional Premier Inn rooms will be created by converting some locations, and the remainder are expected to be sold as going concerns. Whitbread also plans to offload £1.5 billion of freehold properties, reducing its owned property portfolio from 50% to 30%.

Whitbread has confirmed it will close all 106 remaining Beefeater restaurants across the United Kingdom by September 10, 2026, ending the 52-year-old family-friendly steakhouse chain. The closures are part of a restructuring plan aimed at cutting annual costs by £250 million, with some locations converted into Premier Inn hotel rooms or unbranded hotel restaurants and others sold to free up an estimated £1.5 billion. Approximately 3,800 employees are affected, though Whitbread expects to redeploy a significant proportion of them. The Beefeater loyalty scheme will shut down by August 31.