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A popular restaurant chain has confirmed it is selling a branch in a UK city, less than two years after another regional site was shuttered. Beefeater, a family dining restaurant known for its steaks and traditional pub fare, listed its venue in Southcote, Reading, on the market this week. It follows the closure of another branch inside the city's Premier Inn in July 2024, as part of a major restructuring effort by parent company, Whitbread, which involved the sale or conversion of more than 200 sites between 2024 and 2025.

A spokesperson for the company said the offloading of the Southcote branch was linked to an ongoing shift from standalone branded restaurants to dining spaces within hotels. They added that they had been "in discussions with a number of interested parties" to take over the venue, but that it would remain open as normal in the interim.

The spokesperson told the Reading Chronicle: "Whitbread announced its Accelerating Growth Plan in April 2024. This programme is focused on optimising the food and beverage offer across our estate by converting some lower-returning branded restaurant sites into additional Premier Inn bedrooms, while exiting several sites that no longer meet our long-term return thresholds.

"The Southcote Beefeater is one of the locations we are seeking to exit as part of this strategy.

"Importantly, while we continue to market the site and seek a new owner, the Beefeater restaurant remains open and trading as normal, and we look forward to continuing to welcome guests in the meantime."

The restaurant chain, which has a nationwide portfolio of around 140, has closed sites in Kent, Merseyside and Bristol over the last two years.

Whitbread said it had shaved millions of its pounds off its cost base in late 2025 in a bid to help mitigate higher labour costs and food inflation.

It came after the company reported a 3% decline in revenues for Premier Inn UK to £1.4billion for the first half of its financial year, compared with the same period a year before.

Pre-tax profits fell across the group, including Beefeater and other brands, by 7% to £287million year-on-year, although Whitbread said demand improved over July and August, thanks to a strong events calendar and warmer weather.