Brewers Fayre
 | |
| Type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Founded | 1979[1] |
| Headquarters | Dunstable, England |
| Area served | United Kingdom |
| Products | Food and beverages |
| Parent | Whitbread |
| Website | Brewers Fayre |
Brewers Fayre is a chain of around 125[2] 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 and ale pie, which are among the most popular choices. Nearly all Brewers Fayres are on the site of a Whitbread Premier Inn. 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.
History
In the 1980s Whitbread also had the Roast Inns chain. Its slogan was The Family 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; 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, in 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 sold 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 that 35 outlets a year would be added over five years.
In February 2013, it was discovered that the lasagna and burgers served in restaurants owned by Whitbread PLC, including Brewers Fayre, contained horsemeat rather than beef.[3]
Theme
Brewers Fayre pubs are designed to give the feel of a traditional English pub. Warm contrasting colours are used throughout as well as stonework and wooden panelling. A small number of restaurants also feature stained glass. Victorian-style lampposts are a feature in many pub car parks. Paintings featuring a local feature (for example The Forth Road Bridge in the Brewers Fayre in South Queensferry) are located at the front entrance to many pubs
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 & Butlers, and over the year after they were sold, pubs were re-branded to Harvester, Toby Carvery and a selection of other brands. A large number of sites became Crown Carveries (formerly Pub & Carvery), and this sparked growth in the brand, which originally consisted of only a small number of pubs throughout the UK (they now have over 100 restaurants). A small number of standalone Brewers Fayre 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 further 44 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.
Other Brands
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 did not appear to work as planned, and they are now just known as Brewers Fayre and have the same menu.
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 offerings, 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.[citation needed] 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 factories and at this point the firm's mascot Brewster the Bear took over as the Brewers Fayre mascot. A small number of Brewster's sites, such as The Inshes Gate in Inverness and Central Park in Rugby, had their fun factories cut down in size and became known as Play Zones.[citation needed]
Table Table
In 2006 a small number of Brewers Fayre restaurants were converted to Table Table restaurants, a more contemporary pub restaurant brand of Whitbread's. Originally 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 (which opened in June 2006). Over 100 sites were refurbished during 2007 and early 2008. Brewers Fayre has now stopped refurbishing its sites to this brand. Table Table had grown to 111 outlets. In 2012 Brewers Fayre converted a number of Table Table sites back to Brewers Fayre's such as "The Phoenix Park" in Paisley .[2]
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,[4] but these conversions had not taken place by the end of 2011, partly due to their high cost. Possible sites included The Yeadon Way in Blackpool.
Beefeater
In early 2008 about ten Brewers Fayre restaurants were rebranded as Beefeater, such as The Millfield in York.
Brewers Fayre Buffet Place
Although a majority of Brewers Fayre pubs feature the Buffet Place as part of their restaurants, the newest site in Widnes and Barry have been named 'Brewers Fayre Buffet Place'. the Widnes site features a larger buffet counter with buffets available all the time. Extras such as cakes and salads are also available. The theme of the restaurant is also slightly different.
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 31 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 counters (known as the "Buffet Place") are to host 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 was 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, including those without buffet counters. These included "Pie nights" and "Fish & Chip shop nights". Sites that have the "Buffet Place" featured more theme nights for every weekday such as "Mexican night". This was a more cost-effective solution than conversion to a Taybarns or a Table Table restaurant, formats which currently have higher sales and profits than Brewers Fayre. More themes have been created since, and in some restaurants there is a different theme all day every day.
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 [are] near their highest levels in two decades."[5] 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 such as Londonderry and Dagenham new sites are tending not to have individual house names and are just known as Brewers Fayre.
Children's zones
Almost all Brewers Fayres have some sort of children's play area. Almost all pubs feature an outdoor children's play area. All sites that were known as Brewster's have a big indoor multi-level soft play areas known as the Fun Factory (with the exception of a small number of pubs which cut the size of the fun factory to make way for more dining space). Brewster Bear is the firm's own mascot who appears in the indoor fun factories. Brewers Fayre originally had Charlie Chalk as their mascot, but he was replaced after the take over of Brewster's. A small number of Brewers Fayre pubs which had not been Brewster's also featured fun factories; however, most just had outdoor play areas.
Brewers Fayre specialise in birthday parties for children, allowing private use of the Fun Factory.
References
- ↑ The Times (London) 27 September 1999, Monday "Corporate profile", by Martin Waller
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://online.hemscottir.com/ir/wtb/pdf/WhitbreadInterims2010_showbook.pdf
- ↑ http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/02/15/horsemeat_found_in_uk_school_meals_hospitals_and_restaurants.html
- ↑ Kent, Tamsyn (26 October 2009). "Rise of the all-you-can-eat restaurant". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
- ↑ Norma Cohen, "Economy Watch: Reality rains on wedding parade", The Financial Times, 29 April 2011 (subscription required)
External links
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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