A major pub and restaurant chain is set to close 11 London sites.
Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn, announced earlier this year that all of its standalone branded restaurants would shut in September.
This decision is part of a five-year strategy to save £250 million and will result in the closure of 261 restaurants across the UK, with the loss of around 3,800 jobs.
The closures, which started on September 3, will affect five Whitbread brands: Bar + Block, Brewers Fayre, Beefeater, Table Table, and Cookhouse + Pub.
The company plans to replace the closed restaurants with new dining options inside Premier Inn hotels.
The first wave of closures will affect seven Bar + Block restaurants in London, with all sites expected to shut by September 3.
The restaurants in Aldgate, Hammersmith, King’s Cross, Paddington, Southwark, Sutton, and Wimbledon are all set to close.
Bar + Block, launched in 2016, has operated restaurants across the UK, specialising in steaks.
Following these closures, the Brewers Fayre brand will disappear, with its restaurants set to close by September 7.
Among those listed for closure is Winsor House in Greater London.
The Beefeater restaurant chain will also be affected, with three Greater London locations set to close by September 10.
This includes The Fountain, London Woolwich, and Travellers Rest.
Whitbread’s shake-up also extends to the closure of its Table Table and Cookhouse + Pub restaurants, although no London locations from either brand are on the closure list.
A total of 53 restaurants have been sold to Queensway Inns, which plans to re-launch them as a new chain.
This includes a mix of all the Whitbread brands that were set to close.
A spokesperson for Whitbread said: “Whitbread has reached an agreement for the conditional sale of 53 branded restaurant sites to Queensway Inns, subject to a number of final conditions being met.
“Queensway Inns has extensive experience operating hospitality businesses across the UK and intends to operate the sites as going concerns.
“Subject to completion of the sale and following the relevant TUPE information and consultation processes, around 900 team members could transfer and will be supported through the process.”
Whitbread’s chief executive, Dominic Paul, said: “This plan will transform Whitbread into a higher-margin, higher-returning pure-play hotel business.”
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He 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.”
Full list of London restaurants affected by closure:
Bar + Block – closed September 3
London Aldgate, London Hammersmith, London King’s Cross, London Paddington, London Southwark, London Sutton, London Wimbledon
Brewers Fayre – closing by September 7
Winsor House, Greater London
Beefeater – closing by September 10
The Fountain, Greater London, London Woolwich, Greater London, Travellers Rest, Greater London
Will you miss these restaurants? Let us know in the comments.