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A restaurant in Sunderland is closing its doors to the public after its parent company announced plans to restructure earlier this year.

The Wessington Brewers Fayre, in Castletown, Sunderland, is one of 197 Whitbread-owned restaurants that will be closing their doors across the country as part of Whitbread’s new five-year plan.

Whitbread, a hotel and restaurant company which also owns hotel chain Premier Inn, plans to close all of its stand-alone Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Table Table restaurants, with many closing their doors in September.

Back in April, Whitbread announced that it plans to become a “pure-play hotel business focused on Premier Inn”.

The Wessington Brewers Fayre, in Castletown, Sunderland, is one of 197 Whitbread-owned restaurants that will be closing their doors across the country as part of Whitbread’s five-year plan.

placeholder image — The Wessington Brewers Fayre, in Castletown, Sunderland, is one of 197 Whitbread-owned restaurants that will be closing their doors across the country as part of Whitbread’s five-year plan.

In a statement made earlier this year, the company said: “This change will involve exiting all of our remaining branded restaurants which trade under brands including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, a number of which will be converted into approximately 600 additional Premier Inn rooms, with the remainder expected to be sold as going concerns.

“The proposed changes announced today build on the success of our Accelerating Growth Plan, announced in 2024, which involved the conversion of over 200 branded restaurants to additional rooms and the creation of an integrated restaurant in each hotel.

"This format has proved highly popular with guests and under the proposal, it would be rolled out to all hotels where there is currently a branded restaurant.

“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.”

Beefeater restaurant Broomside Park, in Belmont Industrial Park, Durham, is also closing its doors to the public on September 10.

The closure date for The Wessington Brewers Fayre has not yet been announced.