Bryan HayWhitbread, owner of Premier Inn, has announced it will cut approximately 1,500 jobs as part of a strategic shift to focus more on its hotel business.
The plan includes the sale of 126 branded restaurants and the conversion of 112 others into hotel rooms, aiming to increase the total number of available rooms to at least 97,000 by the end of 2029.
Dominic Paul, chief executive of Whitbread, which owns restaurants including Brewers Fayre and Beefeater, outlined the company’s approach to optimising its food and beverage offerings to facilitate this expansion. “We recognise that our transition will impact some of our team members so we will be providing support throughout this process and we are committed to working hard to enable as many as possible of those affected to remain with us,” said Paul.
Despite posting an adjusted loss before tax of £36 million for the year ending in March—an improvement from the previous year’s £50 million loss—Whitbread sees this restructuring as a long-term investment in its growth.
The company expects that the adjustments will initially impact profits but predicts a significant uplift from the 2027 fiscal year onwards, with further increases in margins and returns as new hotel extensions open.
