Premier Inn owner Whitbread to cut 1,500 jobs and shut 100-plus restaurants

Premier Inn plans to add 3,500 hotel rooms in the UK to its current 80,000. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA

The Premier Inn owner Whitbread is to cut 1,500 jobs in the UK and shut more than 100 struggling restaurants despite announcing a significant rise in returns to shareholders.

Whitbread, which runs 850 hotels in the UK and has the sector’s biggest brand, Premier Inn, said it was starting a consultation on the cuts on Tuesday and that it would seek to find alternative jobs for those affected.