Blackpool's Red Lion pub restaurant to close permanently tonight as UK chain Beefeater shuts down 106 sites
Tonight will be your last chance to eat at the Red Lion pub before it closes for good.
A popular Blackpool pub restaurant will close its doors for the final time this evening.
Beefeater restaurant chain will shut all 106 of its sites across the UK tonight as owner Whitbread presses ahead with a major overhaul of its business.
As part of the closures the Red Lion pub restaurant on Devonshire Road in Bispham will close.
A spokesman for the Red Lion said: “We hope to see you again before this restaurant closes to the public on 10 September 2026. In the lead-up to closure, some food & drink options may not be available during your next visit.
“Following the restaurant closure, Premier Inn guests will continue to enjoy breakfast, evening meals and drinks throughout their stay. Please visit the Premier Inn website for more information.
“If you’re interested in joining us for Sunday Roast, please contact the restaurant directly before visiting to check availability as this may vary by site. Thank you for your understanding.”
The decision was revealed in April as Whitbread announced plans to cut around 3,800 jobs in the UK and Ireland under a new five-year strategy to make £250 million in cost savings.
All Beefeater restaurants will close this evening just days after it’s sister brand Brewers Fayre shut all 89 Brewers Fayre restaurants on September 7.
The group is replacing the chains with restaurants inside Premier Inn hotels, which it said was more efficient and “highly popular with hotel guests”.
It is still planning to increase the number of hotel rooms it has open to 96,000 by the 2031 financial year, from the current of approximately 86,600.
In April, Whitbread chief executive Dominic Paul said: “We always challenge ourselves to improve and, in light of significant cost increases in the form of business rates and national insurance, as well as the implied market discount to our inherent value, we’ve looked hard at the options open to us to maximise value creation over the medium and long-term.”
“This plan will transform Whitbread into a higher-margin, higher-returning pure-play hotel business,” he added at the time.