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Whitbread has announced that its pub restaurant and fitness divisions are continuing to suffer from a slowdown in consumer spending and that the group’s key priority is now “restarting like for like sales momentum” in the two areas.
The group has reported like for like sales growth for the first quarter of just 1 per cent, with its budget hotels division – the sole area of like for like growth – balancing falling sales at its pub and high street restaurant businesses.
The company is currently rebranding its 142 Brewsters pub restaurants as Brewers Fayre – and adding 2,800 covers – in an attempt to halt falling sales.
Following the acquisition of Premier Lodge and its merger with Travel Inn to form the Premier Travel Inn chain, Whitbread now operates 29,000 bedrooms, with a further 1,800 due to be opened this year.
Chief executive Alan Parker said of the results: “This has been a creditable performance in a challenging environment.”
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