UK restaurant chain closes Somerset sites after 52 years

Customers can no longer dine at Whitbread-owned Beefeater restaurants after all remaining sites closed permanently on Thursday, September 10.

Founded in 1974, the first Beefeater opened in Enfield and became known for steak, grilled food and traditional British pub dining, slowly expanding to 106 restaurants across the UK in 2026, including 96 in England, five in Wales and five in Scotland.

Back in April this year, Whitbread said that it would close its remaining Beefeater and Brewers Fayre sites as part of a restructure as it shifts its focus to its hotel business, as some restaurant space is being repurposed for new hotel rooms

Whitbread said this would result in 3,800 job cuts, although a spokesperson added that it would try to retain as many staff as possible.

This led to cuts at Somerset sites - The Frome Flyer, The Pavilion in Weston-super-Mare, The White Lodge in Taunton and the Brewers Fayre sites in Minehead and Glastonbury.

Several of these restaurant sites in Somerset have already been put up for sale following the company's decision to exit the branded restaurant market. The Brewers Fayre sites also closed on September 7.

Alongside Taunton's White Lodge Beefeater, a number of former Beefeater and Brewers Fayre venues across the county appeared on Rightmove and commercial property listings as Whitbread presses ahead with plans to focus on its Premier Inn hotel business.

The sites are being marketed for a range of future uses, with some offered as going concerns while others are expected to be redeveloped or repurposed by new owners.

Taunton's White Lodge remains on the market for £500,000 and is being sold through Christie & Co, with the sale being conducted under TUPE regulations.

A full list of all 106 restaurants closing has been confirmed.

UK restaurant chain closes Somerset sites after 52 years - full list of closures:

• The Anchor (Lincolnshire)
• The Applecart (Oxford)
• Badgers Sett (Worcestershire)
• Bagle Brook (Port Talbot)
• Balmoral Inn (Hampshire)
• The Barn (Buckinghamshire)
• The Beacon (Kent)
• The Belgrave (Devon)
• Bentley Green (West Midlands)
• Border Gate (Cumbria)
• The Brache (Bedfordshire)
• The Brecks (South Yorkshire)
• Broomside Park (County Durham)
• The Bull (Kent)
• Carnon Inn (Cornwall)
• Centre (Dundee)
• The Coldra (Newport)
• Countess Wear (Devon)
• The Cricketers (Surrey)
• Crossbush (Sussex)
• Crows Nest (Hertfordshire)
• Deer Park (West Lothian)
• The Dukes Worksop (Nottingham)
• Eureka Park (Kent)
• Euston Way (Shropshire)
• The Farmhouse (Cheshire)
• Farnborough (Hampshire)
• The Fountain (Twickenham, London)
• The Foxburrow (Suffolk)
• Frome Flyer (Frome, Somerset)
• George In The Tree (West Midlands)
• The Gifford (Bristol)
• Gourdie Croft (Dundee)
• The Granary (Cambridgeshire)
• Great Oak (Hampshire)
• Great Yarmouth Seafront (Norfolk)
• Griff House (Warwickshire)
• Halfway House (Bedfordshire)
• Halifax (West Yorkshire)
• Hamilton (Glasgow)
• Harbour Lights (Hampshire)
• Harlow Mill (Essex)
• The Haywain (Essex)
• Heaton Park (Lancashire)
• The Kingswood (East Yorkshire)
• Lady Nairne (Edinburgh)
• The Ladybridge (Staffordshire)
• The Lakeside (South Yorkshire)
• Liberty Bell (Essex)
• London Woolwich (Woolwich, London)
• The Longbow (Rhondda Cynon Taff)
• Longbridge (West Midlands)
• Longford House (Staffordshire)
• The Longwall (Oxford)
• The Lydiard (Wiltshire)
• Malta Inn (Kent)
• Manor Farm (Kent)
• Marsh Mills (Devon)
• Medina Quay (Isle of Wight)
• Mill House (Surrey)
• Mill Lodge (Lincolnshire)
• Millers Barn (Nottingham)
• The Millfield (York)
• Moor Mill (Hertfordshire)
• Morris Dancers (Lancashire)
• Morton Park (County Durham)
• Moseley Park (West Midlands)
• Oakley Hay (Northamptonshire)
• Oast & Squire (Hampshire)
• The Orchard (Worcestershire)
• Oxford Kidlington (Oxford)
• Oyster Reach (Suffolk)
• Packet Steamer (Merseyside)
• The Parkway (Surrey)
• The Pavilion (Weston-super-Mare, Somerset)
• The Plough (Kent)
• Preston Brook (Merseyside)
• Priory Marina (Bedfordshire)
• Quay House (Lancashire)
• Rackstraws Farm (Berkshire)
• Red Lion (Lancashire)
• Redditch (West Midlands)
• Roman Way (Nottingham)
• Sir Thomas Wyatt (Kent)
• Smugglers Haunt (Dorset)
• The Somerford (Dorset)
• The Southcote (Berkshire)
• Springwood Park (Cheshire)
• Spruce Goose (Hampshire)
• Stag & Rainbow (Merseyside)
• Strawberry Field (Essex)
• The Talpore (County Durham)
• The Three Fish (Shropshire)
• Travellers Rest (Harrow, Middlesex)
• The Turnpike (Northamptonshire)
• Twelve Bells (Gloucestershire)
• Walston Castle (Cardiff)
• Ware (Hertfordshire)
• The Waterfront (Swansea)
• The Watermill (Essex)
• White Hart (Sussex)
• White Lodge (Taunton, Somerset)
• White Rock (Devon)
• Whitegate Inn (Lancashire)
• Whitley Bay (Northumberland)
• The Woolpack (Kent)

Dominic Paul, Whitbread’s chief executive, previously 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.

"This has been a rigorous process, and we’ve approached all options with an open mind.

"Our new five-year plan builds on our strengths and drives a significant acceleration of our strategy.

"This plan will transform Whitbread into a higher-margin, higher-returning pure-play hotel business.

"We’re going to go further and faster to deliver a great experience for our guests and high-quality growth and returns for our shareholders."

There is potentially light at the end of the tunnel for the former Glastonbury Brewers Fayre site, according to national news publication The Sun.

A recently published article in The Sun states that 53 of 261 Brewers Fayre and Beefeater sites are set to continue trading after being rebranded by another pub operator.

Queensway Hospitality Group has reportedly snapped up 53 of the sites, including the Brewers Fayre on Morland Rd in Glastonbury.

A source close to the matter told The Sun that they intend to turn them into a new line of “value pubs”. The Glastonbury site is the only Somerset eatery named for takeover, meaning that The Frome Flyer, The Pavilion in Weston-super-Mare, The White Lodge in Taunton and Brewers Fayre in Minehead are all set to close as planned, permanently.