Common Table Group Buys 57 Former Whitbread Restaurant Sites
Common Table Group acquired 57 restaurant sites and one hotel from Whitbread to reopen them as rebranded all-day venues, creating 700 jobs.
The Common Table Group, founded by Thomas Anderson, has acquired 57 restaurant sites and one hotel from Whitbread for an undisclosed sum. The properties include former Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, and Cookhouse venues across the United Kingdom. Anderson plans to reopen the sites in mid-November as rebranded all-day restaurants and barista-style coffee bars featuring coffee from his sister brand, Rodeo. The move is expected to create more than 700 jobs.
These acquisitions follow a broader cost-cutting strategy by Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn, which closed 261 standalone restaurants last month. The company aimed to reduce overall costs by £2 billion and capital expenditure by £1 billion, citing rising business rates and national insurance. This pivot toward becoming a pure-play hotel business resulted in approximately 3,800 to 4,000 job losses.
Whitbread intends to convert some of the closed sites into Premier Inn rooms and expects to generate £1.5 billion from freehold property sales to fund an expansion to 96,000 hotel rooms by the 2031 financial year. While the company frames the shift as a way to deliver higher returns for shareholders, the closures previously drew criticism from investors who urged a more rigorous review of operations.
