Whitbread has accepted offers totaling £56m for the sale of 51 of its branded restaurants and bars.
This sale follows Whitbread’s earlier announcement that it plans to convert 112 branded restaurants into 3,500 Premier Inn hotel rooms and exit 126 branded restaurants.
Simon Ewins, chief executive of Whitbread, mentioned at the annual Hospitality Conference last month that some of the company’s restaurants had become a “distraction” to the business.
In its half-year results, Whitbread confirmed that planning applications have been submitted for more than a third of its restaurant sites to be converted into hotel rooms. The first approvals have already been granted and construction is underway, with the new rooms expected to be fully operational by the end of 2026.
Whitbread has sold 51 of its restaurants, including those under brands such as Bar + Block, Brewers Fayre and Beefeater. The company is currently replacing these locations with an integrated ground floor food and beverage offering across its entire portfolio.
Whitbread’s total food and beverage (F&B) sales fell 7% in the period, largely due to restructuring and changes in its branded restaurants segment.
“The majority of our hotels, including those served by one of our existing 387 integrated restaurants, or our remaining portfolio of 196 higher-margin branded restaurants, will continue to operate as normal,” the group added.
Whitbread reported adjusted pre-tax profit for its rooms segment of £340m, slightly down on the £391m recorded in the first half of its financial year 2024 (H1 FY24).
London occupancy remained strong at 81.5%, while regional occupancy was even higher at 83.5%.
During this time, Premier Inn added 780 new rooms to its portfolio, including its first joint development, which included both a Premier Inn and a ‘Hub by Premier Inn’ in London Paddington.
In addition, it closed 304 rooms as part of its property optimization strategy, bringing the total to 855 hotels and nearly 86,000 rooms as of August 29, 2024.
By the end of the 30th year, the group plans to expand its properties to 98,000 rooms, with a longer-term goal of reaching 125,000 rooms in the UK and Ireland.
Dominic Paul, chief executive of Whitbread, said: “In the UK, we have a clear path to further expand our market leadership position and capitalize on the UK’s favorable supply. We are determined to build on our significant post-pandemic performance and, although the market has been slightly weaker than last year, we remain on course to grow our returns in the UK significantly in the medium term while delivering for our customers as evidenced by high guest scores.
“Our passion for operational excellence and the strength of our brand, scale and value proposition underpin our strong performance and yield per available room relative to the rest of the UK meetings and events sector.”
Premier Inn owns a 12% share of the total supply of hotel rooms, making it the largest hotel chain in Great Britain.
