Brewers Fayre
| Type | Public owned by Whitbread Plc |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Headquarters | Dunstable, England |
| Area served | United Kingdom |
| Products | Food and beverages |
| Parent | Whitbread |
| Website | Brewers Fayre |
Brewers Fayre is a chain of around 125[1] licensed family and casual dining pub restaurants in the United Kingdom, owned by Whitbread.
They are known for serving traditional British pub food, including gammon and steak & ale pie which are among the most popular choices. Nearly all Brewers Fayres are on the site of a Whitbread Premier Inn hotel. Stand-alone sites were sold to Mitchells & Butlers in 2006. These sites were then refurbished to Mitchells & Butlers own brands such as Crown Carveries, Toby Carvery, Harvester and Vintage Inns.
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[edit] History
In the 1980s Whitbread also had the Roast Inns chain. Its slogan was The F amily Welcome.
In 1995 50 more outlets were added, at a cost of £85 million, taking the total to 280. At this time the Charlie Chalk Fun Factory was added to about thirty pubs. In 1996 52 were opened, with 17 having a Travel Inn next door, and most were built near motorways. In early 1997 Whitbread introduced the Kiln & Kettle chain, which was similar to Brewers Fayre but without the children. Around the same time 90 more outlets opened.
In May 1999 Whitbread announced it was proposing to leave the brewing industry and attempted to buy 3,600 outlets (including Firkin pubs) from Allied Domecq in a proposed £2.25 billion deal, which they lost out to Punch Taverns. Later in October 1999 Whitbread formed a pubs and bars division (2,900 outlets), and a restaurants division (1,300 outlets) which included Brewers Fayre headed by Bill Shannon. On 25 May 2000 Whitbread announced it was leaving the brewing industry by selling its beers to Interbrew for £400 million, which allowed expansion of its food restaurants. In March 2001 Whitbread solds its non-food pubs to Deutsche Bank for £1.6 billion. In September 2001 34 outlets were put up for sale. In 2003 it announced it would be adding 35 outlets a year over five years.
[edit] Disposals and re-branding
There used to be many standalone Brewers Fayre pubs, but in 2006 Whitbread agreed to dispose of the 239 standalone Brewers Fayre and Beefeater sites. These had traditionally lower revenues and as growth had stalled in them compared to the still-growing Premier Inn sites, they were seen as an obstacle to the company's sales growth. Sites were sold to market rival Mitchells and Butlers. A small number of sites were retained where there was land where a Premier Inn could be built, such as The Three Bells near Lymington and The Craigside Inn in Llandudno. In 2008 Whitbread sold a fuurther forty four Brewers Fayre & Beefeater sites (such as the Lauriston Farm in Edinburgh) in exchange of 21 Express by Holiday Inn hotels which were converted to Premier Inn.
[edit] Brewers Fayre Local
A small number of sites were renamed Brewers Fayre local such as "The Glassworks" in Stourbridge. These pubs originally had a different menu but on the inside were designed more or less like a Table Table restaurant. The spin off brand diddnt appear work as planned and they are now just known as Brewers Fayre and they operate the same menu.
[edit] Brewster's
For a period in the early 2000s, some larger outlets were re-branded as Brewster's to differentiate a set of more family-oriented pubs from those more suited to adults. Although very similar in the environment and food offer, Brewster's placed a greater emphasis on entertaining children: pubs had a multi-level play area known as the 'Fun Factory', children's entertainers and ice-cream machines. The brand was phased out in 2005, with most of its 147 outlets returned to the Brewers Fayre brand, after Brewster's had been identified as Whitbread's poorest-performing restaurant. All restaurants kept their indoor fun factorys and at this point the firms mascot Brewster The bear took over as the Brewers Fayre mascot. A small number of Brewsters sites such as The Inshes Gate in Inverness and Central Park in Rugby had their fun factory's cut down in size and became known as Play Zones. [2][citation needed].
[edit] Table Table
In 2008 a small number of Brewers Fayre restaurants were converted to Table Table restaurants,Origionally the restaurants were unnamed (some kept the name Brewers Fayre but the logo was black instead of red). The first site was The Newhouse in Motherwell. Over 100 sites were refurbished during 2007 and early 2008. Table Table is a more contemporary pub restaurant brand of Whitbread's which had grown to 111 outlets by 2010. [1]
[edit] Taybarns
Starting in December 2007 with the Swansea Vale, a small number of restaurants were converted to the Taybarns format, an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. Whitbread announced plans to convert more Brewers Fayre sites to the Taybarns brand during 2009 and 2010,[3] but these had not taken place by the end of 2011, partly due to the huge cost of such conversions.
[edit] Beefeater
In early 2008 about ten Brewers fayre restaurants were rebranded as Beefeater such as "The Millfield" in York
[edit] Rejuvenation
Despite the previous policy of disposals and rebranding of Brewers Fayres sites, the chain has seen a resurgence in popularity fuelled by new menu offers such as 2 for £10 meal deals, along with an option for 2 desserts for £2.[citation needed] In late 2008 a refurbishment program was launched. All sites were given a small make over featuring a new colour scheme, new carpets and paintings in the restaurants. Some of the first sites to be refurbished were The Meadows near Barnsley and The oaks at Norwich Airport. On 31st march 2009 the new theme kicked off with a new logo featuring the new slogan "Pub Food as it Should Be" printed on the menus. Sites continued to be refurbished with the last site refurbished in 2010. New external signage was given to each pub at this time too. In December 2009, The Papermill in High Wycombe was refurbished and hot counters were added in the restaurant. The buffet counter was to hoast theme nights such as "Curry Night", on weekdays in addition to the main menu.[citation needed] after a successful trial at this location the programme has been rolled out to further Brewers Fayre locations in September 2010 and then again during 2011, In September 2010 theme nights were introduced to all pubs these included "Pie nights" and "Fish & Chip shop nights". This was a more cost effective solution to the investment that a Taybarns or a Table Table restaurant entails, which Brewers Fayre currently sit behind in sales and profit. More themes have been created since and in some restaurants there is a different theme all day everyday.
According to Whitbread, it was "benefiting from sales at its Brewers Fayre and Premier Inn chain" in a 2011 economy in which "domestic price pressures near their highest levels in two decades."[4] After opening "The harbour" in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland in early 2006, Brewers fayre opened no pubs for over two years. Then "The Wobbly Wheel" near Banbury was refurbished from Millers Kitchen to Brewers Fayre in June 2008. Brewers Fayre opened its first new build site in 2011, "The Malt & Myre" at Lomondgate near Dumbarton and now the brand is slowly opening more new build sites.
[edit] Children's Zones
Just about all Brewers Fayre's have some sort of children's play area. Just about all pubs feature an outdoor children's play area. All sites that were known as Brewsters have big indoor multi level soft play areas. Brewster Bear is the firms own mascot who appears in the indoor fun factorys. Brewers Fayre originally had Charlie Chalk as their mascot but this was ruled out after the take over of Brewsters. A small number of Brewers Fayre pubs (which were not Brewsters) also featured Fun Factorys, however they mainly just had outdoor play areas. Brewers Fayre specialise in birthday parties for children, allowing private use of the Fun Factory.
[edit] References
- ^ a b http://online.hemscottir.com/ir/wtb/pdf/WhitbreadInterims2010_showbook.pdf
- ^ http://www.caterersearch.com/Companies/33934/whitbread-plc.html
- ^ Kent, Tamsyn (26 October 2009). "Rise of the all-you-can-eat restaurant". BBC News Magazine. http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8320043.stm. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
- ^ Economy Watch: Reality rains on wedding parade, an April 29, 2011 article from The Financial Times|date=May 2011}}
[edit] External links
[edit] News items
- Ebbw Vale outlet in February 2011
- Mike and the Mechanics singer has possessions stolen from carpark in October 2003
- Gangland figure murdered in front of diners in Glasgow outlet in March 2003
- Taking jelly off the menu in March 2000
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