Dishes such as burgers, fish and chips and pies are on the menu
Beefeater Emersons Green(Image: Beefeater)
The site of a former Beefeater restaurant in Bristol has reopened as a pub. The Beefeater in Emersons Green, which was a landmark sight for many on the A4174 Ring Road for decades, closed its doors for good on July 10 and is now listed as ‘permanently closed’ on Google.
At the time, many on social media speculated that the site would become a venue from the Papas Group, the brand behind Papas Fish and Chips and Wendy’s. BristolLive has approached Papas Group for comment on this.
However a Facebook page has since been created, with the name Emerson’s Green Pub. Photos posted to the page on July 21 show the former Beefeater building with signage that simply reads ‘Emersons Green’ above the door. The page also shared a post into local Facebook groups to say: “We are now open!”
The pub listed its new opening times as Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10.30pm, and Friday and Saturday 11am-11pm. It also shared photos of some of the food items, as well as an image of the physical menu full of dishes including chicken tikka masala, fish and chips, steak, burgers, grills, pie of the day and more.
Signage spotted by locals also appears to reference the Great British Pub Company, which runs two pubs in the North of England at time of writing. On the Great British Pub Company website, under the ‘find us’ feature, the address for the Emersons Green site is listed alongside the brand’s other venues in Lincoln, Newcastle, Stockton and Barnsley.
However, some locals are still speculating that this will not be a permanent Great British Pub Company venue. One commented on Facebook: “Yes they’re open. It’s a bit baron inside and Thursday last was their first day open and they’ve not quite got everything sorted yet.
“New team new people new management, it’s going to take a little while for them to be up to speed. We went in there for food on Saturday, not many in there and a few teething problems, but like others have said they’re due a refit and they’re actively recruiting staff at the moment.”
A second added: “We were told by staff there that the great British pub are running it for three months then it’s being refurbished and run by an American chain, similar to Wendy’s.”
While a third said: “It’s closing again in eight weeks for a big refit for about a week, I think.” BristolLive has approached both Papas Group and the Great British Pub Company for comment to clarify who is responsible for the reopening.
Beefeater’s closure
In a conversation with BristolLive following its closure, The Whitbread Group, the company behind Beefeater and Premier Inn, confirmed that the Emersons Green restaurant had closed, adding: “We’d like to thank our wonderful guests and team for their service and custom over the years.
“The nearest Beefeater is now The Gifford (Fox Den Road, Stoke Gifford) and we do hope to welcome people there.”
Whitbread also confirmed that the site has been sold to a different restaurant business, but did not confirm which business this was. The Premier Inn at Emersons Green remains open and has split from the restaurant, with its own integrated breakfast area now in place for guests.
The closure comes as part of the business’ ‘Accelerating Growth Plan’ which is described as aiming to “deliver a better guest experience and enhance returns by replacing lower-returning restaurants with higher-returning hotel rooms in high demand locations”.
The proposed plan will see the company invest up to £500m over the next four years to grow its Premier Inn UK rooms ‘pipeline’, enhance the food and beverage offer for more of its hotel guests and improve the performance of its branded restaurant estate.