Premier Inn owner Whitbread will cut 1,500 jobs as part of a remodelling of the business to create more hotel rooms.
The move will see the closure of more than 200 of the group’s restaurants, which include brands Brewers Fayre and Beefeater.
Whitbread plans to sell 126 restaurants, with 21 sales already agreed.
A further 112 restaurants will close permanently with the space converted into new hotel rooms as the group seeks to add more than 3,500 rooms across its estate.
The hotel chain is the largest in the UK with more than 800 locations and 72,000 rooms nationwide.
The firm has 11 hotel sites in Cumbria, including four in Carlisle.
There are four Brewers Fayre restaurants in Cumbria – one each in Carlisle, Barrow, Whitehaven and Cockermouth, and one Beefeater restaurant at Carlisle’s junction 42 Premier Inn site.
The job losses are subject to consultation and will come from a total UK workforce of 37,000 employees.
It is not yet known if any staff from Cumbria will be affected.
Dominic Paul, Whitbread chief executive said: “We recognise that our transition will impact some of our team members so we will be providing support throughout this process and we are committed to working hard to enable as many as possible of those affected to remain with us.”
The job cuts come after Whitbread’s pre-tax profit rose 21% to £452 million for the year to February 29.
Due to fewer visits from non-hotel guests, the 112 branded restaurants that will be converted into hotel rooms made a loss of £19m in the year, while the 126 restaurants Whitbread is selling made a loss of £9m.
