Beefeater and Brewers Fayre Sites to Reopen Under Common Table Group

Common Table Group has agreed to buy 57 former restaurant sites and one Premier Inn hotel from Whitbread, the FTSE 100 hotels group, for an undisclosed sum, according to CityAM, Property Week and the Morning Advertiser. The sites traded under the Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Cookhouse brands before Whitbread shut them in September 2026. Common Table Group says it plans to reopen the first venues from mid-November 2026.

Who is buying the sites

Common Table Group is led by Thomas Anderson, described by Morning Advertiser and CityAM as a coffee entrepreneur who previously built Rodeo, a coffee and doughnut business that Morning Advertiser said runs 15 sites in London and Manchester. Rodeo is listed as a sister company that will supply barista coffee to the reopened restaurants, Property Week and CityAM reported. The purchase was supported by Rove360, a hospitality consultancy whose team includes former senior Whitbread managers and which had previously advised Whitbread on a cost-cutting programme that delivered £150 million in labour savings, CityAM reported.

Common Table Group says the deal will create about 700 jobs and that it will refurbish the sites and develop new menus, according to Property Week, AOL and British Brief. The company has not disclosed the purchase price.

Why Whitbread closed the restaurants

Whitbread closed its remaining branded restaurants, including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, in September 2026 as part of a wider cost-cutting drive the company announced earlier in the year, CityAM and Morning Advertiser reported. CityAM reported that Whitbread chief executive Dominic Paul cited "significant cost increases in the form of business rates and National Insurance" when the closures were announced. Morning Advertiser reported that the closure of the restaurant business eliminated about 3,800 jobs.

CityAM also reported that Whitbread shareholder Corvex Asset Management, which holds more than 6% of the company, has pushed for board changes and a strategic review, giving some context to the pressure the group was under when it exited the restaurant business.

A second buyer: Queensway Inns

Common Table Group's purchase is one of two deals covering former Whitbread restaurant sites. British Brief reported that Queensway Inns has separately bought 53 former Beefeater and Brewers Fayre sites and plans to run them as "value pubs," with more than 900 staff transitioning into roles there. Among the sites is the Longford Inn in Cannock, which closed when Whitbread shut its restaurants and is being recruited for ahead of a planned reopening, according to British Brief's reporting on the wider relaunch.

Combined, the two buyers account for 110 of the sites Whitbread closed, British Brief reported, out of more than 261 Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and related branded venues the company had shut by September 2026 according to the same report.

What changes for diners

Property Week and CityAM reported that the Common Table Group sites are expected to keep operating as restaurants rather than becoming pubs, retaining names such as Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Cookhouse. Anderson's statement, carried by Morning Advertiser, said the business would be run with a "local feel" and that teams would be able to adapt each venue to its community, alongside new all-day food and drink menus and specialty coffee from Rodeo.

The reports reviewed do not specify a full list of which individual sites fall under Common Table Group versus Queensway Inns, nor a confirmed reopening date for every location beyond the mid-November target for the first venues.