Discussion
Just found out Premier inn are closing down all thier resturants and going to a very limited meal service.
Not good..... Think this will very likely be a huge mistake. All those contractors and travellers that use Premier Inn are going to be very upset when they cant find a place that has lunch and dinner options that are not a toasted sandwich for dinner.... absolute wittery of the highest order.
Not good..... Think this will very likely be a huge mistake. All those contractors and travellers that use Premier Inn are going to be very upset when they cant find a place that has lunch and dinner options that are not a toasted sandwich for dinner.... absolute wittery of the highest order.
Not just that, but a sell-and-leaseback of £1.5Bn of property. Sounds like trouble all round.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/30/l...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/30/l...
Why the Closures are Happening
Profitability Issues: The restaurant and pub division was underperforming compared to the hotel business, with food and beverage sales declining.
Rising Costs: The owner, Whitbread, cited significant cost increases, including higher National Insurance and business rates, for the restructuring.
Strategic Pivot: Whitbread aims to prioritize its "pure-play" hotel business, focusing on the growth of Premier Inn.
thats going to be a whole load of interesting developments, I wonder if the premier inn name is about to disappear too.
Profitability Issues: The restaurant and pub division was underperforming compared to the hotel business, with food and beverage sales declining.
Rising Costs: The owner, Whitbread, cited significant cost increases, including higher National Insurance and business rates, for the restructuring.
Strategic Pivot: Whitbread aims to prioritize its "pure-play" hotel business, focusing on the growth of Premier Inn.
thats going to be a whole load of interesting developments, I wonder if the premier inn name is about to disappear too.
It sounds like they'll be moving to the model of their "in-house" Thyme restaurants everywhere instead of having the separate buildings housing the Beefeater / Brewers Fayre.
This is what it was like for the London Kew Bridge hotel which we stayed at a few years ago, it's just a dedicated part of a floor within the body of the hotel for the restaurant.
Menu is more than a toastie too:
https://www.premierinn.com/content/dam/global/rest...
This is what it was like for the London Kew Bridge hotel which we stayed at a few years ago, it's just a dedicated part of a floor within the body of the hotel for the restaurant.
Menu is more than a toastie too:
https://www.premierinn.com/content/dam/global/rest...
This has already been happening. Their in house 'restaurants' have a very limited offering, and they really scrimp on staff so you may have just one person running hotel reception, bar and table service, plus one person in the kitchen - leading to disastrously slow service at peak times. I have experienced this and felt for the poor staff
shtu said:
Not just that, but a sell-and-leaseback of £1.5Bn of property. Sounds like trouble all round.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/30/l...
Surely if they're strapped for cash they'd be better off using the properties as collateral for bank loans.https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/30/l...
It seems like a desperate measure to me
eltawater said:
It sounds like they'll be moving to the model of their "in-house" Thyme restaurants everywhere instead of having the separate buildings housing the Beefeater / Brewers Fayre.
This is what it was like for the London Kew Bridge hotel which we stayed at a few years ago, it's just a dedicated part of a floor within the body of the hotel for the restaurant.
Menu is more than a toastie too:
https://www.premierinn.com/content/dam/global/rest...
That doesn't seem too bad to be honest.This is what it was like for the London Kew Bridge hotel which we stayed at a few years ago, it's just a dedicated part of a floor within the body of the hotel for the restaurant.
Menu is more than a toastie too:
https://www.premierinn.com/content/dam/global/rest...
I find Premier Inn's bedrooms fine and for breakfast I just need something stodgy and warm so ^^^ would be fine for me. I never used the restaurants for evening meals anyway. For the amount they were charging you could get a much better meal for a similar price in Central London, or a similar meal at a much cheaper price via Uber Eats / Deliveroo.
A group of us stay at the PI in Bicester regularly for the Scramble. The attached Brewers Fayre is, frankly, s
t. Terrible service, dated and worn out interior, poor drinks at high prices. Good riddance to it.
Closest one to home - same story - the attached Brewers Fayre is a terrible excuse for a pub.
Slightly ironic that Whitbread are incapable of running pubs any more.
The Premier Inn product is generally consistently decent. As with any chain there will be outliers (Chichester South I’m looking at you) but overall it’s much better than Travelstodge.
t. Terrible service, dated and worn out interior, poor drinks at high prices. Good riddance to it. Closest one to home - same story - the attached Brewers Fayre is a terrible excuse for a pub.
Slightly ironic that Whitbread are incapable of running pubs any more.
The Premier Inn product is generally consistently decent. As with any chain there will be outliers (Chichester South I’m looking at you) but overall it’s much better than Travelstodge.
They got a bit of a shock when they did this with one of their (pretty busy) properties on the edge of Glasgow: sold the attached Beefeater restaurant out of the group, hollowed out a few rooms in the hotel to build a breakfast room and kitchen, then built another wing for the hotel to replace the lost rooms and expand a bit.
All well & good until the new owner of the restaurant took on a franchise from Wetherspoon
Restaurant now far cheaper and open for breakfast, albeit from 8:00. It might well cut the costs for the site, but they could find more instances of a large competitor, or a franchisee for them, on their doorstep.
EDIT: just looked at the Premier Inn I’ve got booked near Newcastle Airport later in the year. Seems the restaurant there is operated by Greene King (or a franchisee?), including serving the hotel breakfast. Seems bizarre they’re willingly working with other large pub chains down to the level of adding their branding to the PI website page for the hotel.
All well & good until the new owner of the restaurant took on a franchise from Wetherspoon
Restaurant now far cheaper and open for breakfast, albeit from 8:00. It might well cut the costs for the site, but they could find more instances of a large competitor, or a franchisee for them, on their doorstep.
EDIT: just looked at the Premier Inn I’ve got booked near Newcastle Airport later in the year. Seems the restaurant there is operated by Greene King (or a franchisee?), including serving the hotel breakfast. Seems bizarre they’re willingly working with other large pub chains down to the level of adding their branding to the PI website page for the hotel.
Edited by alangla on Friday 1st May 06:13
alangla said:
They got a bit of a shock when they did this with one of their (pretty busy) properties on the edge of Glasgow: sold the attached Beefeater restaurant out of the group, hollowed out a few rooms in the hotel to build a breakfast room and kitchen, then built another wing for the hotel to replace the lost rooms and expand a bit.
All well & good until the new owner of the restaurant took on a franchise from Wetherspoon
Restaurant now far cheaper and open for breakfast, albeit from 8:00. It might well cut the costs for the site, but they could find more instances of a large competitor, or a franchisee for them, on their doorstep.
EDIT: just looked at the Premier Inn I ve got booked near Newcastle Airport later in the year. Seems the restaurant there is operated by Greene King (or a franchisee?), including serving the hotel breakfast. Seems bizarre they re willingly working with other large pub chains down to the level of adding their branding to the PI website page for the hotel.
If they outsource the food and drink bit and get revenue for that rental then they would be happy... They are wanting hotel and no food or drink, but that hurts them as they need to have food and drink... Like amazon little gain in the last mile of delivery, but they need it or the business model is kaput. A lot of businesses out there only want to deal with bed and board.... when sending people to other locations. I like the fact my meal is inclusive in the hotel, If have to be away for two weeks and having to fund evening meals and such when working and having to claim that back.... that will affect a lot of companies and workersd.All well & good until the new owner of the restaurant took on a franchise from Wetherspoon
Restaurant now far cheaper and open for breakfast, albeit from 8:00. It might well cut the costs for the site, but they could find more instances of a large competitor, or a franchisee for them, on their doorstep.
EDIT: just looked at the Premier Inn I ve got booked near Newcastle Airport later in the year. Seems the restaurant there is operated by Greene King (or a franchisee?), including serving the hotel breakfast. Seems bizarre they re willingly working with other large pub chains down to the level of adding their branding to the PI website page for the hotel.
Edited by alangla on Friday 1st May 06:13
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