Horsham pub to shut amid shake-up by major hotel chain

The Station Beefeater in North Road, Horsham, is to become a Premier Inn restaurant – only servicing those staying in the Premier Inn opposite Horsham train station from Friday (July 5).

It is part of plans by Premier Inn owner Whitbread to shut 126 eateries across the country. A Whitbread spokesperson said last month that the Station Beefeater was likely to be among the pubs affected and that the company hoped to transfer staff into new roles or offer them a chance to take up other vacancies across the business.

Whitbread first announced plans to shut the 126 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants and cut 1,500 jobs last month, despite announcing a significant rise in returns to shareholders.

The company said that proceeds from the sale of the restaurants would be used “to help fund our investment in building a more tailored, integrated restaurant at our affected hotels as well as the construction of new hotel rooms across the estate.”

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Whitbread chief executive Dominic Paul said that the company was in “a unique position to be able to add 3,500 new hotel rooms and meet the strong demand we are seeing from guests around the country, whilst continuing to offer a great breakfast and dinner at all of our hotels. This plan is a further positive step, delivering a better experience for our hotel guests and helping to extend our market leadership in the UK.”