Dated evidence register
What changed—and what has not been confirmed.
A chronological record of meaningful closure, sale, reopening and successor developments. Every entry carries a factual-status label and direct sources; plans are never presented as completed events.
How to read this page
What each update label means.
- Confirmed
- The operator or another first-hand record confirms the event or date.
- Official record
- A company, venue or planning authority shows a narrower fact.
- Conditional
- A sale or intended use is reported, but completion or opening is not confirmed.
Newest first
The latest changes.
Pub websites, planning decisions and dated reporting inform these updates. Material changes and corrections appear in the revision log.
Whitbread half-year results
197 branded restaurants closed; 173 site sales agreed
Whitbread confirmed the September closures and sales progress. Replacement integrated dining is for hotel guests only, with about 750 new extension rooms expected this financial year.
Former Whitbread restaurants
Press reports 110 restaurants returning
The Express reported 53 Queensway Inns and 57 Common Table sites across several brands. The fourteen former Beefeater entries match our existing Queensway list. Common Table’s individual site list is still awaited.
Morris Dancers, Scarisbrick
Morris Dancers now has a live Queensway pub page.
Queensway lists current opening hours and welcomes Premier Inn guests at the former Beefeater address. This brings directly matched Queensway pub pages to twelve. The opening day is not published.
Common Table Group
57 sites – list awaited
Trade reports name a deal for 57 former Whitbread restaurants plus one hotel, with first reopenings planned for mid-November. No site list has been published, so the archive assigns none of the final 106 venues to this deal.
Smugglers Haunt, Ferndown
The Cranborne Hundred is now confirmed open.
Wetherspoon’s current new-openings register marks The Cranborne Hundred ‘OPEN NOW’ at Ringwood Road, Ferndown, matching the former Smugglers Haunt Beefeater address. The page shows its confirmed trading status without inferring an exact opening day from the operator’s conflicting dated pages.
Carnon Inn, Truro
Carnon Inn now has a live Queensway venue listing.
Queensway Inns lists Carnon Inn at Old Carnon Hill, Carnon Downs, Truro, TR3 6JZ, matching the former Beefeater address. The page publishes current opening hours and dining information, bringing the archive’s directly matched Queensway listings to eleven.
White Hart, Guestling
White Hart now has a live Queensway venue listing.
Queensway Inns lists White Hart at Winchelsea Road, Guestling, Hastings, TN35 4LW, matching the former Beefeater address. This brings the archive's directly matched Queensway listings to ten. No opening date has been published.
Beefeater · national status
Beefeater now confirms that all of its restaurants have closed.
The brand’s own homepage has changed from advance closure information to a completed-closure notice. It says all Beefeater restaurants have closed, while Premier Inn guests can still receive breakfast, evening meals and drinks at every hotel through The Social, other in-hotel spaces or neighbouring restaurants.
Official Beefeater closure notice ↗ (beefeater.co.uk, site closed September 2026)Premier Inn closure and dining FAQ ↗Smugglers Haunt, Ferndown
The Cranborne Hundred opening moves to 29 September.
Wetherspoon’s live venue page now lists Tuesday 29 September 2026, superseding the 16 September date previously shown by the operator and reported elsewhere. The former Beefeater address and planned daily opening hours are unchanged.
Broomside Park, Durham · The Plough, Dover
Two more former Beefeaters have live Queensway venue pages.
Queensway Inns now publishes current pages and opening hours for Broomside Park and The Plough at their former Beefeater addresses. This raises the directly matched Queensway listings in the archive from seven to nine.
Beefeater · national timeline
10 September was Beefeater’s announced final brand-wide service day.
Whitbread’s official guest notice named 10 September as the Beefeater closing date. Individual venues may have closed earlier, while Premier Inn guests can continue to receive food and drink in different hotel dining spaces.
Seven Queensway-linked Beefeater sites
Queensway now publishes current venue pages for seven matched sites.
Current Queensway Inns pages match the former Beefeater addresses for The Dunes, Griff House, Moor Mill, Oyster Reach, The Three Fish and Twelve Bells; Preston Brook is listed as The Canal House. These are live pub websites for the individual venues; the wider Whitbread sale was described separately as conditional.
The Stanborough, Welwyn Garden City
A McDonald’s alteration plan is under consideration—not approved.
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council lists McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd as both applicant and agent for alterations to the former Beefeater. The application was valid from 20 July and remained under consideration when checked on 4 September. It does not confirm planning approval, a completed property transaction or an opening date.
The Farmhouse, Crewe
The Marshfield Bank Farm House is now open.
Wetherspoon’s live venue record has changed from an advance opening notice to an operational listing marked ‘Open’. The £1.5 million conversion of the former Beefeater was reported to create 70 jobs; the operator now lists service from 7am daily.
Smugglers Haunt, Ferndown
Wetherspoon initially listed 16 September for The Cranborne Hundred.
Wetherspoon’s official venue page originally listed 16 September for the former Beefeater on Ringwood Road. The operator subsequently moved the date to 29 September; the newer 12 September archive entry records that correction.
Farnborough and other hotel-linked sites
Closing to the public does not always end food service in the building.
Current Beefeater venue pages say Premier Inn guests will continue to receive breakfast, evening meals and drinks after public restaurant closure. Farnborough already accepts no walk-ins and serves breakfast only to hotel guests.
Farnborough venue page ↗ (beefeater.co.uk, site closed September 2026)
Bar + Block Newcastle
Public service ends on 3 September, while hotel dining continues.
Bar + Block’s official venue page confirms the closure and warns that menu choices may narrow before the final service. ChronicleLive separately reports a mailing-list discount through 31 August; the original customer email is not publicly available, so its conditions remain reported rather than independently confirmed.
Griff House, Nuneaton
The venue is reported as secured for continued hospitality use.
Local reporting identifies Griff House in the Queensway package. Whitbread describes the wider 53-site agreement as conditional, so a successor name and reopening timetable should not yet be treated as confirmed.
Great Yarmouth Seafront
The Beefeater became The Dunes before the national final date.
The former Beefeater inside the South Beach Parade Premier Inn reopened under Queensway Inns as The Dunes. It is the first named Queensway conversion reported as trading under its successor identity.
Oast & Squire, Fareham
Refurbishment is approved; Toby Carvery is the reported intended format.
Fareham Borough Council approved internal and external works to the Grade II-listed building. Reporting on the application identifies Mitchells & Butlers and a planned Toby Carvery; this confirms planning progress, not a completed sale or opening date.
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