Two Merseyside Beefeater pub restaurants set to close as venues shut across UK

Family favourite chain Beefeater will close two of its Merseyside pub restaurants this week as part of restructuring efforts by parent company Whitbread.

Hospitality business Whitbread, which also owns Brewer’s Fayre and Premier Inn, announced plans earlier this year to ‘optimise’ its food and drink offering by converting more than 100 of its ‘lower performing’ restaurants into additional hotel space. The move will see a number of its venues becoming solely Premier Inn sites.

Half of Merseyside’s four Beefeater pubs will be affected by the changes, with Whitbread telling LiverpoolWorld that Wirral’s Glegg Arms and St Helens’ Mickle Head Green will both close. The Glegg Arms in Heswall will change into a Premier Inn restaurant on July 5, and only service those staying in the hotel. The last day of trading for both restaurants will be Thursday, July 4.

Historic Heswall venue the Glegg Arms first opened as Crabbe’s Inn in the 1840s. The pub was changed to its current name in the 1850s – where it was also listed in Bagshaw’s Directory. By the 1980s, the Glegg Arms became the popular Beefeater pub restaurant we know today.

In an email sent out to customers on Tuesday (July 2), Beefeater said: “We are writing to let you know that we’ve announced plans to make changes at some of our restaurants and unfortunately Glegg Arms, Beefeater in Wirral will be changing to a Premier Inn restaurant and will only service those staying in the hotel after 5th July. We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause.”

A spokesperson for Whitbread told LiverpoolWorld: “After many years serving the community we can confirm the Glegg Arms is closing its doors (last day of service is July 04). We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the local community for their support over the years and our amazing team members.”

The Packet Steamer Beefeater in Aintree and the Stag and Rainbow Beefeater in West Derby are unaffected.