Earlier this month Whitbread, the owner of both Beefeaters and Brewers Fayre, closed all the branches of the pub-restaurant chains in a major restructuring.
In total, 106 Beefeaters shut on September 10, including the branch at the Oxford South Milton Interchange, and 89 Brewers Fayre sites closed on September 7, including one in Bicester.
A representative of Whitbread, which also owns the Premier Inn hotel brand, previously said that the process would result in 3,800 jobs being lost, although the company added that it was trying to retain as many staff as possible.
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Now, the future of some of these sites is becoming apparent with updates issued across the country.
According to The Oldham Times a former Beefeater pub in Chadderton is on the market for £640,000, just weeks after it closed down.
The Applecart Beefeater at the Oxford South Milton Interchange (Image: Christie Owen & Davies Ltd)
Meanwhile The Runcorn & Widnes World has reported that a pub has already opened in the place of a Brewers Fayre.
Called The Foundry, it is part of Queensway Hospitality Group and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Other sites are being converted into Premier Inn-brand food and drink offers integrated into its hotels.
Indeed, across the country, some Beefeater and Brewers Fayre eateries have already been switched over to Whitbread’s own in-house Thyme brand.
The status of the Oxfordshire sites is not known although several were put on the market earlier this year.
The loss of Beefeaters and Brewers Fayre was met with some sorrow throughout the UK.
Interior of Bicester Brewers Fayre (Image: Christie Owen & Davies Ltd)
Beefeaters was founded in 1974 and at its height in the late 1990s had over 250 locations across the country.
Around that time, in 1999, celebrity chef Brian Turner was recruited to work with the brand on a series of 20 three to five-minute programmes on British food.
Beefeater brand marketing controller Deborah Cutler told Marketing Week at the time: “The appointment and forthcoming campaign give a new edge to our strategy.
“The sponsorship will focus on our Britishness and commitment to providing great British food.”
Mr Turner, now 80, appeared as a cook on numerous programmes including BBC 2’s ‘Ready Steady Cook’ from 1994 and BBC 1’s ‘Saturday Kitchen which he featured on in 2023.
Meanwhile Brewers Fayre was founded in 1981 and had over 100 locations by the end of the 1980s.
Brewers Fayre in Bicester (Image: Christie Owen & Davies Ltd)
A statement was issued on the restructuring earlier this year.
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A spokesperson for Whitbread said: “We recognise the impact of this proposal on colleagues who work at the affected sites.
“As a business which recruits around 15,000 people every year, we expect to be able to retain a significant proportion of those affected and will be looking to redeploy as many of our impacted colleagues as possible.
“However, we do anticipate that the proposed changes, which are subject to consultation, would result in a reduction of around 3,800 roles of a total UK and Ireland workforce of around 30,000.
“We will do all we can to support those colleagues affected.”
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