The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has challenged Whitbread to reconsider a decision to close and convert more than 100 pubs located next to Premier Inns.
The pubs are scheduled to be converted into restaurants for hotel residents, or turned into additional hotel rooms. The changes are part of a three-year £150m cost-cutting programme.
Tom Stainer, CAMRA’s chief executive, has written to Whitbread asking its board to reconsider their decision, highlighting inconsistencies between the company’s stated values and the actions that have been taken.
The letter outlines the campaign’s ‘utter dismay’ upon hearing the news and highlights online statements that Whitbread has made about their ‘trusted brand’, ‘culture and values’, and commitment to ‘make a positive contribution to the communities’ that the brand’s outlets serve.
“I would ask that you carefully reflect on whether the actions that you have put in train align with your previous commitments, and your outlined values,” writes Stainer. “I would argue that they do not.
“Closing a pub — which is a community amenity facility and gathering space — to the local community that it serves is not only contrary to the aims of your environmental, social, and governance strategy, it will also impact upon your ability to maintain that you are a ‘trusted brand’.”
CAMRA’s national planning policy adviser, Paul Ainsworth, added: “Concerningly, it appears that most of these pubs have been closed to the public under the argument that they are restaurants, and worryingly most local authorities have accepted that.
“We are now campaigning for a legal definition of a pub for planning purposes so that if you can buy a drink at the bar without purchasing a meal, the venue would be considered a pub.
“In the wake of scandals such as the scandalous Crooked House demolition, unacceptably high levels of unlawful conversions and demolitions, and now this, we need the new government to act now to strengthen planning protections and enforcement options for local councils.”
The Cloud, a hazy, 4.6% ABV session IPA, is an August seasonal from Oakham Ales. It is hopped with Citra and Centennial, from the US, and Harlequin and Olicana, from the UK. “Expect citrus and tropical fruit aromas and flavours in abundance, and a luscious mouthfeel,” says the brewer.
