All change at Premier Inn, as Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Table, Table bite the dust

Brewer’s Fayre, Beefeater, and several other Whitbread restaurant brands are all set to close permanently in early September, with final trading dates confirmed below. The following article gives a breakdown of the reasons behind the closure decision, along with a number of key dates. Basically, Whitbread is shutting all of its stand-alone restaurant brands as part of a major restructuring affecting around 200 sites. The closures are part of a five-year strategy announced in April to save £250 million and cut around 3,800 jobs across the UK and Ireland. According to Whitbread, operating separate restaurant brands has become too costly, especially with rising business rates and national insurance. It wants to focus on becoming a “pure-play hotel business” (whatever that means), where profit margins are higher. The company plans to replace the restaurant chains with in-house Premier Inn restaurants, which it says are more efficient and popular with guests. What’s closing — and whenA…