FANS of a family restaurant chain have been left shocked after a restaurant abruptly closed its doors for good.
Whitbread has around 840 locations in the UK and owns brands including Premier InnBeefeater and Brouwers Fayre.
Last week, it unveiled plans to close more than 200 of its branded locations and cutting 1,500 jobs in favor of building more hotel rooms.
The chain has now revealed that they have closed the Premier Inn and Beefeater in Godalming. Surrey late last week.
Whitbread told The Sun that the decision to close the site was made before last week's announcement.
The locals have adopted this social media to share their sadness over the decision to close the location.
A Facebook user said: “Sad to hear last night that the Premier Inn and Beefeater on Meadrow is closing next week – me and a few friends of mine used to meet there quite regularly for a midweek drink.”
Another commented, writing: “The staff there are all amazing.”
A third added: “We couldn't fault the service they gave us.”
And a fourth shouted: “That's sad!”
Last week, Whitbread said it plans to convert 112 restaurants into hotel extensions while closing 126 'loss-making' sites.
It hopes the sale will be completed within the next two years and the restaurants will remain open as usual until they are sold.
If a site loses a branded restaurant, a new integrated restaurant is created within the hotel.
The move leaves Whitbread with 387 restaurants that are part of the hotels and 196 branded restaurants.
The hospitality chain said it has already agreed to sell 21 of these restaurants for £28 million.
However, it is unclear exactly which pubs and restaurants will be closed and where they are located.
The group said the job losses are still under discussion and come from the total Britain workforce of 37,000 employees.
It followed reports that Whitbread was looking into accelerating plans to sell hundreds of its pubs and restaurants.
The chain is said to have put at least 250 of its 440 pubs and restaurants up for sale, most of which are located near Premier Inn hotels.
Earlier this year, The Sun revealed that it was over It is expected that 7,000 pubs will go bankrupt in the coming year.
Rising costs and fewer gamblers through the door has led to four out of five pubs seeing their profits take a nosedive.
What happens to the catering industry?
A lot of Food and drink chains have had a tough time lately as the cost of living has led to fewer people spending money on eating out.
Companies struggled to recover after the crisis pandemiconly to be hit by an upward trend energy accounts And inflation.
Multiple chains have been affected, resulting in major brands such as Wet spoons And Frankie & Benny's closing branches.
Wetherspoons has confirmed that 18 pubs have been soldor delivered to the landlord so far this year.
Meanwhile, locals could lose as many as 17 Wetherspoons watering holes, which remain for sale or undersupplied.
Some chains did not survive, Byron Burger fell into government Last year the owners said this would lead to a loss of more than 200 jobs.
Pizza giant, Papa Johns is closing 43 of its stores soon.
Nice, the owner of Wildwoodsaid it will close locations as part of major restructuring plans.
The brand plans to close twenty loss-making restaurants after a “challenging” start to the year.
Stonegate has increased fears for its survival as it rushes to pay off its debts.
RETAILERS have been feeling the pressure since the pandemic, as shoppers cut back on spending due to the rising cost of living.
High energy costs and the switch to online shopping are also taking their toll, and many shops on the high streets are struggling to continue.
Here's a list of all the major brands closing their stores this year:
- Argos – The brand has announced plans to do just that closed 100 independent British branches last year as it looks to move away from the high street and focus on expanding its supermarket presence.
- Boots – The health and beauty chain announced it was closing 300 stores last July. The closures are ongoing and this will reduce the retailer's estate from 2,200 to 1,900 stores.
- Clintons – Clintons late last year considered plans to close 38 stores in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy
- Costa coffee – The caffeine giant has around 2,000 locations nationwide, so there's a good chance there's one near you. The chain recently closed the doors of dozens of locations. We revealed which one stores have to close this year.
- Iceland – The supermarket has more than 900 stores, but will close almost twenty branches in 2023 more selected stores will close.
- Lidl – The supermarket, which has 950 stores, is changing store locations and that has led to this some shops have to close. But the retailer is also looking at it Open 12 new supermarkets.
- MRS – M&S, which has 405 stores across the country, has suffered a number of closures series of branches across the country, a blow to shoppers. However, it is not all bad news, because the chain also has big plans also open dozens of new stores.
- Offence – The company announced in July last year that it would close six branches, but there are more on the way.
- W.H.Smith – The retail giant, which operates more than 1,100 stores, has closed eight stores since March 2023, but there are more to come.
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