British hospitality operator Common Table Group has agreed a deal to acquire 57 restaurant sites and one Premier Inn hotel from FTSE 100 hospitality group Whitbread, following the recent closure of the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre chains.
The transaction, completed for an undisclosed sum, will create approximately 700 jobs as the business prepares to reopen and rebrand the shuttered venues from next month. The acquisition portfolio comprises former Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, and Cookhouse & Pub locations across the United Kingdom.
Common Table Group secured backing for the acquisition from Rove360, a hospitality advisory firm founded by former senior Whitbread executives.
Transaction Detials
Common Table Group was founded by coffee entrepreneur Thomas Anderson, who plans to commit capital expenditure toward refurbishing the physical estate and overhauling food and beverage offerings across all 58 acquired properties.
The new owner plans to transition the venues away from standardised pub-restaurant templates toward community-oriented hospitality spaces with localised menu planning. As part of the beverage overhaul, the reopened venues will serve specialty barista coffee supplied by sister brand Rodeo, which currently operates 15 coffee shops across London and Manchester.
"Our priority is to get the sites back open and trading as soon as possible," said Thomas Anderson, founder of Common Table Group. "We're building an entrepreneurial business with a local feel, where our teams are empowered to make decisions and shape each venue around the people and communities it serves. We're excited about what we can create together and look forward to bringing new energy and ideas to our guests."
The acquisition brings significant former Whitbread operational expertise back into the managed pub estate through the involvement of Rove360.
Rove360, which provided advisory and transaction backing to Common Table Group, previously worked alongside Whitbread on corporate efficiency programmes, helping the hospitality giant execute £150 million in labour-cost savings. The advisory team's familiarity with the physical assets, regional trading dynamics, and cost profiles of the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre estates provides the incoming management team with detailed insight into historical unit economics.
Under the new operating framework, site-level management will receive greater commercial discretion over local promotions, entertainment, and menu tailoring to improve off-peak trading density.
Whitbread Restructuring and Operations
The disposal follows Whitbread’s corporate restructuring programme announced earlier this year, which outlined plans to generate £2 billion in cost efficiencies by closing non-hotel restaurants and cutting roughly 4,000 roles across its UK network.
Whitbread leadership cited mounting structural overheads as the primary catalyst for offloading standalone branded dining concepts, pointing to escalating National Insurance contributions and elevated commercial business rates.
"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," stated Dominic Paul, Chief Executive Officer of Whitbread, when explaining the group's rationalisation strategy.
The sale of the 57 sites also arrives amid sustained shareholder scrutiny for Whitbread. Activist investor Corvex Asset Management, which holds an equity stake exceeding 6% in the Premier Inn owner, has repeatedly called for an operational review of the company's capital allocation and requested board-level representation.
By divesting the non-core restaurant properties to Common Table Group, Whitbread accelerates its exit from standalone pub dining to focus resources on its higher-margin Premier Inn hotel estate, while Common Table Group gains immediate national scale across established suburban and roadside commercial footprints.
