Beefeater closed every one of its 106 UK restaurants, ending a 52-year run. The chain served its last customers on 10 September 2026, three days after sister brand Brewers Fayre shut. Owner Whitbread announced its exit from branded restaurants in April 2026, putting about 3,800 jobs at risk.
What Closed, and Exactly When
Beefeater was the last of Whitbread’s restaurant brands to trade, closing on 10 September 2026. The wind-down ran brand by brand over eight days rather than all at once, which is why closure dates reported at the time differ.
- 3 September 2026: Table Table, Cookhouse + Pub and other Whitbread restaurant brands closed after evening service.
- 7 September 2026: Brewers Fayre closed.
- 10 September 2026: Beefeater closed, all 106 sites, the final brand to go.
Whitbread notified customers directly, writing to members of the Beefeater rewards scheme before the closures. In total about 197 branded restaurants across the group stopped trading.
Why Whitbread Shut a Brand It Built
Whitbread closed Beefeater because it decided hotel rooms earn more than pub restaurants on the same land. The group announced the exit in April 2026 as part of a plan to cut costs by about 250 million pounds and to run Premier Inn as a focused hotel business.
The reasoning was property, not popularity. Restaurant floor space attached to a Premier Inn could be converted into bedrooms, and Whitbread set out to add roughly 3,600 hotel rooms through extensions at suitable sites.
The same April 2026 announcement included a sale-and-leaseback programme of about 1.5 billion pounds and a plan to cut freehold ownership from around half the estate to between 30 and 40 percent over time. A Whitbread spokesperson said the company would “continue to offer a great breakfast and dinner at all hotels, replacing branded restaurants with a restaurant inside the hotel”, and that it aimed “to redeploy as many of those impacted colleagues as possible”.
From More Than 250 Restaurants to 106
Beefeater had already lost well over half its estate before the final closure was announced. Whitbread opened the first Beefeater in 1974, The Halfway House in Enfield, north London, built on a short menu of prawn cocktails and char-grilled steaks.
The chain peaked in the late 1990s. Whitbread bought the rival Berni Inn chain in 1995, rebranded its 115 sites as Beefeater, and took the brand past 250 locations, making it Whitbread’s flagship restaurant business alongside Brewers Fayre.
The contraction came in stages. Under the Accelerating Growth Plan announced in April 2024, Whitbread said it would close 112 restaurants for conversion into hotel rooms and put a further 126 less profitable sites up for sale, affecting about 1,500 jobs. By April 2026, only 106 Beefeaters were left to close.
Where the Beefeater Sites Are Now
Dozens of former Beefeater and Brewers Fayre buildings have reopened under a new owner rather than being demolished. On 12 August 2026, Whitbread agreed to sell 53 sites to hospitality group Queensway, covering Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Table Table locations plus a handful of Bar + Block and Cookhouse + Pub venues, with about 900 employees transferring.
Whitbread said Queensway Inns “has extensive experience operating hospitality businesses across the UK and intends to operate the sites as going concerns”. The sites are reopening gradually as Queensway Inns, each under its own pub name rather than a single national brand.
Two reopenings illustrate the pattern. The former Beefeater beside the Premier Inn on South Beach Parade in Great Yarmouth reopened as The Dunes, and the former Brewers Fayre in Widnes reopened as The Foundry, keeping its existing team.
As of 30 September 2026, the position is this: the Beefeater brand no longer trades anywhere in the UK, no buyer for the Beefeater restaurant name has been announced, and the 53 sites sold to Queensway are reopening in phases under individual names. Sites not included in that sale are being converted into Premier Inn bedrooms or integrated hotel restaurants, or sold separately.
Can You Still Get Dinner at a Premier Inn?
Yes. Premier Inn is not closing, and Whitbread kept food service at its hotels after the restaurant brands went.
The branded pub restaurant has been replaced by an integrated restaurant inside the hotel, serving breakfast and evening meals to guests. This format was tested under the 2024 Accelerating Growth Plan, which created an integrated restaurant in each converted hotel, and was then extended across sites that previously had a branded restaurant attached.
The practical difference for a passing diner is that these are hotel restaurants built around guests, not standalone pub restaurants marketed to the local area.
Beefeater Gin Is a Separate Company
Beefeater Gin is unaffected by the restaurant closures and is owned by a different company altogether. The gin is a London dry gin brand owned by the French drinks group Pernod Ricard.
The restaurants were owned by Whitbread, a British hospitality company whose main business is Premier Inn. The two shared a name and a yeoman-warder theme, not an owner, so the closure of all 106 restaurants has no bearing on the gin’s production or availability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are All Beefeater Restaurants Closed?
Yes. All 106 UK Beefeater restaurants closed on 10 September 2026, and none reopened under the Beefeater name.
Is Premier Inn Closing as Well?
No. Premier Inn is the business Whitbread chose to concentrate on, and the restaurant closures were intended to fund extra hotel rooms.
Did Anyone Buy the Beefeater Chain?
Queensway bought 53 Whitbread restaurant sites in August 2026, across several brands, and is reopening them as Queensway Inns under individual pub names. No buyer for the Beefeater brand itself has been announced.
How Many People Lost Their Jobs?
Whitbread put about 3,800 roles at risk when it announced the exit in April 2026. Around 900 staff transferred with the 53 sites sold to Queensway, and Whitbread said it aimed to redeploy as many affected colleagues as possible.
Is Beefeater Gin Affected?
No. Beefeater Gin is owned by Pernod Ricard and has no connection to Whitbread’s restaurants beyond the shared name.
