Whitbread is a British multinational hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England.

[9][19] The next three decades saw Whitbreads merged with over a dozen other regional breweries, including Tennant Brothers of Sheffield in 1961 and Brickwoods in 1971.

[23] In 1973, the company purchased Long John International, a Scottish distiller whose brands included Laphroaig whisky and Plymouth gin.

[24] Later spirit acquisitions, also included the distiller James Burrough and the brand Beefeater Gin which was later sold.

[24] In 1984, Samuel Charles Whitbread became chairman and a reorganisation of the company took place into separate divisions; the spirits arm, including Laphroaig was sold to Allied Distillers in 1989.

[27][28] The company diversified into other hospitality holdings and invested in new ventures in the 1980s and 1990s, including Beefeater, Pizza Hut, Berni Inns, Heineken Steak Bars and TGI Fridays.

[29] In the early 1990s, Whitbread was required to sell almost 2,500 pubs, as a result of the 1992 Supply of Beer (Tied Estate) orders.

[30] In July 1996, Whitbread purchased the Pelican Group (comprising 110 restaurants under the Dôme, Mamma Amalfi and, primarily, Café Rouge brands) for £133m,[31] and in November 1996, Whitbread acquired the restaurant group BrightReasons (owner of brands including Bella Pasta and Pizzaland) for £46m.

The Whitbread & Co brewery building at 52 Chiswell Street in London still survives, although beer ceased to be brewed there in 1976[9] and it is now a conference and events venue.

Still named "The Brewery", it was part of the Earls Court and Olympia Group from 2005 to 2012, when it was subsequently sold to a private investor.

[35] In 2005, it moved its core operations from CityPoint in central London, to Oakley House in Luton,[36] and then, in 2006, to larger offices at Whitbread Court in Dunstable.

[37] In 2006, it went on to sell 239 of its 271 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre sites to Mitchells & Butlers, who rebranded them into Harvester, Toby Carvery and a selection of other brands.

[41] In 2018, Whitbread faced pressure from two of its largest shareholders, hedge fund Sachem Head and activist group Elliott Advisers, to break itself up by splitting off the Costa Coffee chain, the theory being the individual businesses would be worth up to 40% more than the current market capital value.

The company blamed the cuts on a slump in hotel guest numbers since the beginning of the UK's lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[48] In April 2024 Whitbread announced plans to sell 126 unprofitable Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants.