Everything we know as 11 Yorkshire Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants set to close
All the remaining Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants could face closure
A number of chain restaurants across Yorkshire could be at risk of closure under cost-cutting measures considered by Premier Inn owner Whitbread.
The hospitality company is considering shutting down all of its remaining Beefeater and Brewers Fayre sites. It plans to replace its 197 restaurants with an integrated food and drink model which it said was more efficient and preferred by hotel guests.
Beefeater opened its first restaurant in 1974 and specialised in simple pub grub. At its peak it had around 140 spots across the country.
Opening a few years later, Brewers Fayre is best known for its Sunday carveries.
Whitbread has announced plans to cut around 3,800 jobs in the UK and Ireland as part of a move to make £250 million in cost savings. The group has cited pressures coming from business rates and national insurance contributions for the decision.
The firm said the plans to reduce its 30,000-strong workforce were subject to employee consultation, and that it expects to retain a significant proportion of those affected through redeployment. Whitbread’s previous restructuring plan, launched in 2024, resulted in around 1,500 job cuts.
The Brewers Fayre and Beefeater restaurants that could be at risk of closure under the plans include the following sites in Yorkshire, according to the Mirror Online.
- Aire & Calder - Brewers Fayre
- Cheswold Lodge - Brewers Fayre
- Dalesway - Brewers Fayre
- Rhubarb Triangle - Brewers Fayre
- Turnpike - Brewers Fayre
- Watermill - Brewers Fayre
- The Brecks - Beefeater
- Halifax - Beefeater
- The Kingswood - Beefeater
- The Lakeside - Beefeater
Whitbread’s new five-year plan includes the increased cost-saving target and steps to cut capital spending by more than £1 billion. This will see it sell off £1.5 billion worth of its freehold properties – meaning the hotels it owns outright – to “fund future growth and increasingly look to grow on a leasehold basis”.
The group is still planning to increase the number of hotel rooms it has open to 96,000 by the 2031 financial year, from the current of approximately 86,600.
Chief executive Dominic Paul 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.”
He added: “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.”
It comes after the business reported a pre-tax profit of £298 million for the year to February 26, which was 19% lower than the year before.
Total revenues were flat year-on-year at £2.9 billion, but UK sales edged up by 1%.