A total of 106 Beefeater and 89 Brewers Fayre restaurants across the UK will be shutting for good in September, with the final dates now confirmed.
The mass closures form part of owner Whitbread’s major restructuring plan.
The company announced in April that it would shut its remaining Beefeater and Brewers Fayre sites as part of a strategy overhaul, meaning around 3,800 jobs are at risk.
Walston Castle Beefeater restaurant among Wales closures
Customers were informed of the closures in a letter sent to Beefeater Reward Club members.
It stated: “As you may have seen, we have recently announced changes to our business, which is resulting in the closure of our Branded Restaurants.
“This means that on Thursday 10 September 2026 your local Beefeater and all other UK Beefeaters will close.”
Meanwhile, Brewers Fayre will close a few days earlier, on September 7.
Both loyalty schemes attached to each chain will end on August 31.
Across Wales, there are 12 combined Beefeater and Brewers Fayre sites closing, according to the Metro, which are:
Beefeater:
- Bagle Brook (Port Talbot)
- The Longbow (Rhondda Cynon Taff)
- Walston Castle (Cardiff)
- The Waterfront (Swansea)
Brewers Fayre:
- Abergavenny (Abergavenny)
- Afon Conwy (Conwy)
- Crossways (Caerphilly)
- Ocean Park (Cardiff)
- The Sandpiper (Carmarthenshire)
- Swansea Vale (Swansea)
- Tirfounder Fields (Rhondda Cynon Taff)
- Victoria Park (Gwent)
Dominic Paul, Whitbread’s chief executive, said previously: “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.
Why are so many UK pubs closing?
“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.
“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.”
Whitbread restructuring strategy explained
Whitbread first announced its Accelerating Growth Plan to sell a number of its branded restaurants in April 2024.
In April 2026, it announced that, subject to consultation, it was extending the programme to include all remaining branded restaurants.
Under the new strategy, Whitbread plans to convert some restaurant sites into additional Premier Inn rooms and sell off around £1.5 billion worth of freehold properties to fund further growth.
The group currently owns approximately 86,600 hotel rooms and intends to increase this to 96,000 by the 2031 financial year.
The new hotel extension rooms will be in locations where there is strong demand.
Branded restaurants will be replaced with a restaurant inside the hotel, mirroring the format which is already in operation in over half of Premier Inn hotels and is popular with hotel guests.
Whitbread said that although it expects to redeploy many affected employees within its wider business, the restructure will still result in significant job losses.
A statement said previously: “We recognise the impact of this proposal on colleagues who work at the affected sites.
“As a business which recruits around 15,000 people every year, we expect to be able to retain a significant proportion of those affected and will be looking to redeploy as many of our impacted colleagues as possible.
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“However, we do anticipate that the proposed changes, which are subject to consultation, would result in a reduction of around 3,800 roles of a total UK and Ireland workforce of around 30,000.”
Whitbread said that it will “do all it can” to support colleagues affected by the changes.
The company believes the integrated food and drink model is better aligned with the requirements of Premier Inn guests, who account for a large portion of restaurant trade in Whitbread-owned venues.
Will you be sad to see the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre sites in Wales close? Let us know in the comments.
