A ROSS-on-Wye restaurant, which is part of a family pub chain, is at risk of closure as its owner is looking to close over 100 of its lower performing outlets.

Whitbread, the company behind the Beefeater chain, has revealed plans to close around 126 of its lower-performing sites around the UK in favour of building more hotel rooms.

Although Whitbread has not disclosed a full list of the sites earmarked for closure, it is understood that the Ross-on-Wye restaurant, the Traveller’s Rest, in Ledbury Road, could be affected.

The company stated that no formal decision had been made as the process was still subject to an ongoing consultation and no decision would be made until early July.

Dominic Paul, Whitbread's chief executive, said: "Continuing to invest in our brand and teams for the benefit of our guests and customers has secured a market-leading position and is also delivering strong business performance.

"Our significant freehold estate and strong balance sheet mean we are in a unique position to be able to add 3,500 new hotel rooms and meet the strong demand we are seeing from guests around the country, continuing to offer a great breakfast and dinner at all of our hotels. This plan is a further positive step, delivering a better experience for our hotel guests in the UK.

"I recognise that these changes will be unsettling for affected team members and we are committed to working to enable as many as possible of those affected to stay by transferring into other vacancies across the business more broadly.

“Our teams are at the heart of our guest experience, and I want to thank each and every team member for their continued hard work and dedication to great quality, service and value."

Whitbread has just reported pre-tax profit of £452m for the year- a rise of 21 per cent. This is despite the 126 restaurants it is closing, making a loss of £9m.

The Beefeater restaurant chain was originally set up by Whitbread in 1974. The brewing company created the restaurant as a rival to the Berni and Schooner Inns operating in towns and cities around the country during the early 1970s.