Whitbread, the hospitality group behind Premier Inn, one of the biggest hotel names in the UK, is planning to convert the remaining hotel restaurants into hotel-integrated food and drink offerings
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 reduce costs and overhaul its restaurants.
The hospitality group behind one of the biggest budget hotel names in the UK has shared a five-year strategic plan which is designed to help transform the business after a detailed review was sparked by surging employment costs and business rates.
At the core of the overhaul is a plan to have all 197 remaining branded restaurants converted into more efficient hotel-integrated food and drink offerings. But that move could see around 3,800 jobs cut at Premier Inns across the UK and Ireland.
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Whitbread has 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 impacted through redeployment. The company was already in the process of converting some underperforming restaurants into hotel rooms, but criticism from activist investor Corvex Management prompted Whitbread to review the previous strategy.
The group’s five-year strategy aims to make £250million in cost savings, with the group saying it wanted to save money in light of cost pressures coming from business rates and national insurance contributions. The new five-year plan includes the increased cost-saving target and steps to cut capital spending by more than £1billion.
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.”
Whitbread has reportedly already agreed to the sale of 51 branded restaurant sites, bringing in £50million, and is said to have reached agreements on a further 60. The five-year overhaul plan was announced alongside full-year results for the year leading to February 26, 2026, which saw revenue relatively flat at £2.92billion and adjusted profit before tax holding steady at £483million – despite higher business rates and increased national insurance contributions.
The latest update comes exactly a year after Whitbread announced plans to cut around 1,500 jobs in the UK as it scaled back the number of restaurants across its business. At the end of April last year, the hospitality firm said it will reduce its chain of restaurants by more than 200, focusing instead on building more hotel rooms.
112 of the restaurants were converted into new hotel rooms, while 126 less profitable sites were earmarked for sale. 21 of those were sold for £28million. Restaurant companys owned by Whitbread include Brewers Fayre, Beefeaster, Bar+Block, Cookhouse Pub, Hub, Thyme, Table Table and Whitbread Inns.
