Multiple Sussex and Surrey restaurants face uncertain future after hotel chain's shock announcement

Despite announcing a significant rise in returns to shareholders, The Premier Inn’s owner, Whitbread, will cut 1,500 jobs across the UK and shut 126 restaurants.

Whitbread, which runs 850 hotels in the UK, began its consultation process on Tuesday (April 30) – promising to find alternative jobs for staff members affected.

Unprofitable Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants are in danger of closing.

A Whitbread spokesperson said: “Over the next 24 months we are planning to exit 126 branded restaurants; they will continue to operate as they do now so that they can be sold as going concerns.

"Of these restaurants, we have agreed to sell 21 for £28m. In FY24, these restaurants in aggregate generated revenue of £147m and a PBT loss of £9m. The proceeds from these disposals will be used to help fund our investment in building a more tailored, integrated restaurant at our affected hotels as well as the construction of new hotel rooms across the estate.”

Whitbread is not providing details on specific restaurant closures at this stage, whilst staff are being consulted.

There are four Beefeater restaurants in Sussex: Horsham (The Station); Arundel (Crossbush); Burgess Hill (The Acorn) and Hastings (White Hart).

There are six more in Surrey: Bagshot (The Cricketers); Farnham; Guildford (Parkway); Godalming (The Manor Inn); Redhill (Mill House) and Woking (Bridge Barn).

Brewers Fayre has restaurants in Goffs Park, Crawley, The Windmill, Hastings and The Drove, Newhaven. It also has restaurants in Epsom and Tadworth in Surrey.

Whitbread intends to keep 196 larger restaurants adjacent to hotels but will close 112 and convert the space into new hotel rooms – as part of a £150m three-year cost-cutting drive, aiming at reducing the 37,000-member workforce.

A spokesperson added: “Our accelerating growth plan will deliver a better guest experience and enhance returns by replacing lower-returning restaurants with higher-returning hotel rooms in high demand locations.

"Having explored various options, we are today announcing details of a proposed plan that will see us invest up to £500m over the next four years to grow our Premier Inn UK rooms pipeline, enhance the F&B offer for more of our hotel guests and improve the performance of our branded restaurant estate.”

"The majority of our sites, including our existing 387 integrated restaurants and our remaining portfolio of 196 better performing branded restaurants, will continue to operate as normal and are not affected in any way.

“The construction of new integrated restaurants inside our hotels will commence shortly and the first of our new room extensions are expected to be available to guests by the end of the current financial year with the remaining sites completed over the next few years.”

The plan will result in the reduction of ‘around 1,500 roles’ out of a total workforce of 37,000.

"While these plans are still subject to consultation, we will seek to find alternative opportunities wherever possible through the roles created by this programme and our existing recruitment process that makes c.15,000 hires each year,” the spokesperson said.

"We expect to retain a significant proportion of those who wish to remain with us and we will be providing dedicated support to our teams.”

Chief Executive Officer Dominic Paul said: “When I joined Whitbread as CEO in January 2023, it was clear to me that we had a high performing hotels business, with a strong platform for growth in both the UK and Germany. Our strategy of continuing to invest in our brand, teams, and estate for the benefit of our guests and customers has secured a market-leading position for Premier Inn in the UK and is also delivering strong business performance.

“Our significant freehold estate and strong balance sheet mean we are in a unique position to be able to add 3,500 new hotel rooms and meet the strong demand we are seeing from guests around the country, whilst continuing to offer a great breakfast and dinner at all of our hotels. This plan is a further positive step, delivering a better experience for our hotel guests and helping to extend our market leadership in the UK.

“I recognise that these changes will be unsettling for affected team members and we are committed to working hard to enable as many as possible of those affected to stay with Whitbread by either transferring into roles this plan will create, or by taking up other vacancies across the business more broadly through our existing recruitment activity that makes c.15,000 hires each year. Our teams are at the heart of our guest experience, and I want to thank each and every team member for their continued hard work and dedication to deliver the great quality, service and value that our guests expect from us.”