Premier Inn owner Whitbread has said it will axe around 1,500 jobs across the UK amid plans to cut 200 branded restaurants in favour of building more hotel rooms.
The hospitality giant, which employs 37,000 people across Britain, announced the job losses as part of plans to focus on its hotel business, which will see it sell off 126 branded restaurants.
It will also convert 112 lower-returning branded restaurants into new hotel rooms, as part of its goal to offer at least 97,000 open rooms in the UK by the end of its 2029 financial year.
Whitbread, which owns restaurants including Brewers Fayre and Beefeater, announced an adjusted loss before tax of £36m for the year to March, an improvement on its £50m loss the previous year.
It said it will try to find alternative roles within the company for staff affected by the job losses, adding that its “accelerating growth plan” will create new jobs.
It already carries out about 15,000 hires each year, although it is not clear how many of these are hiring and rehiring for the same position.
