Horsham restaurant faces uncertain future amid major hotel chain changes

Premier Inn owners Whitbread say that its proposals ‘could impact’ the Station Beefeater in North Road, Horsham – but say that it is ‘subject to consultation’ and stress the restaurant is still open and ‘trading as usual.’

A spokesperson said: “We recognise that this will be unsettling for our team members and we are providing them with dedicated support. We are committed to working hard to enable as many as possible of our affected team members to stay with us by either transferring into new roles, or by taking up other vacancies across the business more broadly through our existing recruitment activity.”

Whitbread first announced plans to shut the 126 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants and cut 1,500 jobs last month, despite announcing a significant rise in returns to shareholders.

The company says that proceeds from the sale of the restaurants “will be used to help fund our investment in building a more tailored, integrated restaurant at our affected hotels as well as the construction of new hotel rooms across the estate.”

Announcing the changes last month, Whitbreat chief executive Dominic Paul said: “Our significant freehold estate and strong balance sheet mean we are in a unique position to be able to add 3,500 new hotel rooms and meet the strong demand we are seeing from guests around the country, whilst continuing to offer a great breakfast and dinner at all of our hotels. This plan is a further positive step, delivering a better experience for our hotel guests and helping to extend our market leadership in the UK.

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“I recognise that these changes will be unsettling for affected team members and we are committed to working hard to enable as many as possible of those affected to stay with Whitbread by either transferring into roles this plan will create, or by taking up other vacancies across the business more broadly through our existing recruitment activity that makes c.15,000 hires each year.

"Our teams are at the heart of our guest experience, and I want to thank each and every team member for their continued hard work and dedication to deliver the great quality, service and value that our guests expect from us.”