The South East contains many of the final Beefeater names, from Kent and Sussex to Hampshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight. The local stories include old inns, coach houses, converted buildings and purpose-built restaurants. White Hart at Guestling and the Plough at Dover now have Queensway chapters, while Oast & Squire at Fareham has a separately sourced planned Toby Carvery conversion.
Several familiar places left the chain before the final closure, including Woodlands in Gravesend, Long Reach at Whitstable and the Farnham restaurant. Their earlier dates are shown separately below. A building still beside a Premier Inn may now serve only staying guests, so its hotel connection alone does not tell a visitor whether public dining continues.
What happened in South East?
- Reopened
- 2
- Hotel guests only
- 3
- Converted or redeveloped
- 0
- Plans announced
- 1
- No news yet
- 20
Photographs from South East
Three local stories
Manor Farm, Rainham
Rainham’s Manor Farm has an earlier use that an inn-style name would not suggest. Rainham History reports gas showrooms built around 1928 and a conversion to the Beefeater pub restaurant during the 1980s. Its photographs show the exterior before repainting and before the neighbouring Premier Inn occupied part of the car park in 2011. The history links a commercial showroom, a restaurant conversion and a later hotel addition on the High Street. The broad conversion decade is reported rather than turned into an invented opening year, and the local photographs remain with their original source.
CAMRA venue record ↗ · Whitbread restaurant address list ↗ · Rainham History: former gas showrooms ↗ ·
The Plough, Dover
The Plough near Dover is described by White Cliffs Country as a seventeenth-century coach house. Its exposed rafters, upstairs room and garden explain why the building had a traditional-pub character during its Beefeater years. Those features belong to the local building history, rather than to a standard chain interior. Queensway now publishes dining information for the Folkestone Road address at CT15 7AB. A current pub operator and a much older coach-house setting can therefore be followed on the same venue page, with the old restaurant details preserved separately from today’s menu and opening information.
White Cliffs Country ↗ · Queensway directory: 8 October check ↗ · Queensway venue and dining information ↗ ·
The Woolpack, Hothfield
At Hothfield Common, the Woolpack occupies an old timber-framed inn on Maidstone Road. Historic England dates the building to the sixteenth century or earlier and describes its later red-brick refacing, tiled roof and ornamental rainwater heads. Its Grade II listing dates from 1980. The restaurant’s Beefeater chapter was one later use of that inn, with Premier Inn nearby, rather than the origin of its fabric. For someone remembering a meal near Ashford, the surviving building details can be as useful as the restaurant sign. The listed history gives a firm local starting point beyond the chain’s national timeline.
Every final Beefeater in South East
Help find photographs of the missing venues →
- The Applecart, Abingdon — No news yet · OX14 4TX
- Balmoral Inn, Southampton — No news yet · SO16 0XJ
- The Barn, Milton Keynes — No news yet · MK9 3BZ
- The Beacon, Dartford — No news yet · DA1 5PR
- The Bull, Swanley — No news yet · BR8 7QD
- The Cricketers, Bagshot — No news yet · GU19 5HR
- Crossbush, Arundel — No news yet · BN18 9PQ
- Eureka Park, Ashford — No news yet · TN25 4BN
- Farnborough, Farnborough — Hotel guests only · GU14 7SJ
- Great Oak, Petersfield — No news yet · GU32 3SB
- Harbour Lights, Portsmouth — No news yet · PO6 4SA
- The Longwall, Oxford — No news yet · OX4 2JT
- Malta Inn, Sandling — No news yet · ME14 3AS
- Manor Farm, Rainham — No news yet · ME8 7JE
- Medina Quay, Newport Isle of Wight — Hotel guests only · PO30 2DN
- Mill House, Redhill — No news yet · RH1 5BT
- Oast & Squire, Fareham — Plans announced · PO14 1RJ
- Oxford Kidlington, Kidlington — No news yet · OX5 1RA
- The Parkway, Guildford — No news yet · GU1 1UP
- The Plough, Dover — Reopened · CT15 7AB
- Rackstraws Farm, Sandhurst — No news yet · GU47 0RT
- Sir Thomas Wyatt, Maidstone — No news yet · ME16 0HG
- The Southcote, Reading — Hotel guests only · RG30 3AB
- Spruce Goose, Basingstoke — No news yet · RG22 6PG
- White Hart, Guestling — Reopened · TN35 4LW
- The Woolpack, Hothfield — No news yet · TN26 1AP
Earlier Beefeaters in South East
Long Reach Tavern, Whitstable
The Thanet Way restaurant, CT5 3DB, closed to local diners on 5 July 2024. CAMRA records its continuing use for Premier Inn residents.
Woodlands, Gravesend
The building on Wrotham Road, DA11 7LF, began as a private home associated with the Wood family. Its Beefeater public dining ended in early July 2024. Its longer-term future remains uncertain.
Ragged Robin (formerly The Manor Inn)
Heartwood bought the former Beefeater on Guildford Road, Farncombe, in May 2024. The Ragged Robin gastropub opened on 17 June 2025.
Stanborough
The restaurant on Stanborough Road, Welwyn Garden City, opened with a Premier Inn in 1999 and closed in the 2024 cuts. A later McDonald’s proposal remains unconfirmed in this research.
Beefeater Farnham
The Guildford Road restaurant closed on 5 July 2024. A July 2025 application proposed replacing it with hotel rooms; an application is not evidence that the work is complete.
Reading Gateway
The Imperial Way restaurant, RG2 0TA, has served Premier Inn residents only since 5 July 2024.