Premier Inn owner Whitbread to cut 1,500 jobs at struggling restaurants arm

Premier Inn owner Whitbread is to cut 1,500 jobs at its restaurants as it converts food locations into hotel rooms or sell them, as the business increasingly becomes almost entirely a hotels company.The 282-year-old business announced its “accelerating growth plan” today after its latest financial results, which were driven by more strong performance from Premier Inn.But its food and beverage arm, which includes Beefeater, Bar + Block and Brewers Fare, did not match the same performance, with sales down 2%. As a result, Whitbread announced it would drastically scale back its food operations to become even more of a hotels business.