Overview
- Common Table Group has agreed to buy 57 former Whitbread restaurant sites and one Premier Inn hotel with terms undisclosed and plans to begin reopening them from next month.
- The deal is expected to create about 700 jobs as Common Table refurbishes the venues, introduces refreshed menus, and runs a barista coffee offer supplied by its sister brand Rodeo.
- The buyer was supported operationally by Rove360, a consultancy staffed by former Whitbread senior managers who previously helped deliver roughly £150 million in labour-cost savings.
- Whitbread closed around 261 standalone restaurants in September as part of a wider cost-cutting turnaround that cut nearly 3,800 jobs and refocused the company on growing its Premier Inn hotel business.
- The sale returns many high-street restaurant sites to local operators and could affect Whitbread’s plan to sell freeholds or convert some locations into extra hotel rooms, shifting where employment and property value are realised.