According to a report in The Sun, Queensway Hospitality Group has acquired a tranche of sites representing roughly 25% of the circa 200 locations Whitbread is exiting following its decision to retire its pub restaurant brands.
The Sun reports that a source close to the matter said Queensway intends to turn the sites into a new group of “value pubs”.
The newspaper has published a list of 50 sites, which form a dispersed national estate that includes locations in Scotland and Wales.
According to information on Companies House, Queensway Hospitality Group Ltd was incorporated in November 2022 as Narmak Holdings Ltd and changed its name to Queensway Hospitality Group in August last year.
Its sole director is Kamran Aziz, who is also behind Queensway Advisory, which according to its website has been managing leisure assets since 2015.
A cluster of companies was established just weeks before the Whitbread deal emerged.
Aziz became a director of Queensway Inns Holdco Ltd and Queensway Inns Midco Ltd on 23 June 2026, followed the next day by three operating companies.
All three were incorporated on 24 June 2026 and are registered for “hotels and similar accommodation” and “public houses and bars”.
Whitbread has been looking to significantly scale back its pub restaurant division since 2024.
In April 2024, the Premier Inn owner announced a major withdrawal from its pub restaurant brands as part of its Accelerating Growth Plan.
The group said it would exit 126 lower-returning branded restaurants, selling them as going concerns, and convert a further 112 restaurants to create additional Premier Inn rooms, with F&B transferred to smaller integrated restaurants.
At the time, Whitbread said it would retain 196 higher-returning branded restaurants, which would “continue to operate as normal”.
In April this year, Whitbread went further, announcing a new five-year plan to become a “pure-play hotel business” that would involve “exiting all of our remaining branded restaurants”.
Last month, Whitbread said that all of its pub restaurant brands would be closed by the end of September.
In June this year it was revealed that Mitchells & Butlers is to acquire a seven-strong package of the sites from Whitbread, which will be converted to either Miller & Carter or Toby Carvery.
Update: Whitbread has confirmed that it has reached an agreement for the conditional sale of 53 branded restaurant sites to Queensway Inns, subject to a number of final conditions being met.
A Whitbread spokesperson says: “Queensway Inns has extensive experience operating hospitality businesses across the UK and intends to operate the sites as going concerns.
“Subject to completion of the sale and following the relevant TUPE information and consultation processes, around 900 team members could transfer and will be supported through the process.
“The proposed sale represents further progress against Whitbread’s Accelerating Growth Plan, first announced in April 2024. In April 2026 Whitbread announced a proposal to extend the programme to include all remaining branded restaurants and add a total of 3,600 new hotel extension rooms in locations with strong demand, whilst continuing to offer a great breakfast, dinner and drinks nationwide through the creation of new Premier Inn restaurants inside all hotels. This mirrors the format which is already in operation in over half of Premier Inn hotels and is highly popular with hotel guests.”