A major pub restaurant chain will shut its doors for the final time today as owner Whitbread presses ahead with a major overhaul of its hospitality business.
The move marks the end of Brewers Fayre restaurants across the UK after 45 years.
89 sites are closing nationwide, including several in the North East.
The closures form part of a wider shake-up announced by Whitbread, earlier this year, which will also see 106 Beefeater restaurants disappear from parts of the estate as the company looks to make £250 million in savings.
The Beefeater sites will close on Thursday, September 10.
Rising business rates and higher National Insurance costs have been cited as key factors behind the decision.
Whitbread employs around 30,000 people across the UK, with approximately 3,900 jobs expected to be lost as a result of the changes.
A Whitbread chief executive said: “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.”
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Brewers Fayre and Beefeater have long operated alongside Premier Inn hotels, offering food and drink facilities for guests and local customers.
However, Whitbread is now moving towards a more hotel-focused model, with the restaurant brands due to be replaced by integrated food and drink offerings within Premier Inn sites.
All the Brewers Fayre sites closing in North East today:
- Broomside Park, Durham
- The Talpore, Stockton-on-Tees
- Whitley Bay, North Tyneside
- Tindale Crossing, Bishop Auckland
- Old West Quay, Hartlepool
- The Wessington, Sunderland
All Beefeater sites closing this week:
- Broomside Park, Durham
- The Talpore, Stockton-on-Tees
- Whitley Bay, North Tyneside
- Morton Park, Darlington.
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