Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Bar + Block: Portsmouth area pubs and restaurants face uncertain future after Whitbread announcement
Pub and restaurant chains could disappear from the Portsmouth area as hospitality giant Whitbread announces a cost-cutting drive.
Premier Inn owner Whitbread has announced plans to cut around 3,800 jobs in the UK and Ireland as part of a new five-year strategy to save £250m and overhaul its restaurants.
The hospitality group said it wanted to save money in light of cost pressures coming from business rates and national insurance contributions.
Its 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 billon worth of its freehold properties – meaning the hotels it owns outright – to “fund future growth and increasingly look to grow on a leasehold basis”. It will also replace its 197 restaurants with an integrated food and drink model which it said was more efficient and preferred by hotel guests.
There are reports that this means the writing is on the wall for Whitbread-owned venues including Beefeater, Bar + Block and Brewers Fayre. Beefeaters in The News areas include The Harbour Lights in Northarbour and the Oast and Squire on The Avenue in Fareham. There is a Brewers Fayre restaurant at Clarence Pier in Southsea and branches of Bar + Block in Portsea and Whiteley.
A statement said: “This change will involve exiting all of our remaining branded restaurants, which trade under brands including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, a number of which will be converted into approximately 600 additional Premier Inn rooms, with the remainder expected to be sold as going concerns.”
Whitbread 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.
The company’s previous restructuring plan, launched in 2024, resulted in around 1,500 job cuts.
It 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 oner per cent.