The Campaign for Real Ale has expressed 'utter dismay' over plans to close sites next to Premier Inns

CAMRA has challenged Whitbread to reconsider their decision to close and convert over 100 pubs next to Premier Inns. The pubs are now scheduled to be converted to restaurants for hotel residents or turned into additional hotel rooms.

Tom Stainer, CAMRA chief executive, has written to Whitbread asking the board to reconsider their decision, highlighting inconsistencies between the company's stated values and the actions that have been taken.

The letter outlines the campaign's 'utter dismay' upon hearing the news and highlights online statements that Whitbread has made about their 'trusted brand', 'culture and values' and commitment to 'make a positive contribution to the communities' that the brand's outlets serve.

In the letter, Mr Stainer says: "I would ask that you carefully reflect on whether the actions that you have put in train align with your previous commitments, and your outlined values. I would argue that they do not.

"Closing a pub - which is a community amenity facility and gathering space - to the local community that it serves is not only contrary to the aims of your environmental, social and governance strategy, it will also impact upon your ability to maintain that you are a 'trusted brand'."

CAMRA's expert pub-saving campaigners are also concerned about how the conversions have taken place. They say Whitbread have been able to use a grey area in the current planning system in England that makes it easier to claim that pubs are in fact restaurants, which makes change of use more likely to be granted.

Paul Ainsworth, CAMRA's national planning policy adviser, said: "Concerningly, it appears that most of these pubs have been closed to the public, under the argument that they are restaurants, and worryingly most local authorities have accepted that.

"We are now campaigning for a legal definition of a pub for planning purposes so that if you can buy a drink at the bar without purchasing a meal, the venue would be considered a pub.

"In the wake of scandals such as the scandalous Crooked House demolition, unacceptably high levels of unlawful conversions and demolitions, and now this, we need the new Government to act now to strengthen planning protections and enforcement options for local councils."