There is local optimism that a restaurant earmarked for closure in Abergavenny could soon have a new future after a company announced plans to rescue a small number of the Brewers Fayre and Beefeater sites that have been earmarked for closure.

While it has been confirmed that the Brewers Fayre brand will be leaving the town, alongside all the other UK locations, locals have been clinging onto the hope that the restaurant itself could be saved soon after 53 were snapped up by Queensway Inns, which intends to keep them open as ‘going concerns’ before adding them to a brand new budget pub chain.

Whitbread, which still currently owns Brewers Fayre and Beefeater alongside its flagship business, Premier Inn, confirmed it had reached an agreement to sell 53 branded restaurant sites to Queensway Inns. It has been alleged that the sites are going to be a blend of all of Whitbread’s ventures, meaning some Brewers Fayre sites could be saved.

The deal represents around 25 per cent of the venues that had been listed for closure which accounts for roughly 900 staff members across the country potentially keeping their jobs under new owners.

In Abergavenny, the current Brewers Fayre site, in Llanfoist, is on the market for £585,000 and comes with all the fixtures and fittings anyone would need to keep the restaurant ticking over. It will also remain right next to the town’s Premier Inn hotel and within metres of the Heads of the Valleys Road, with lots of potential to make any new business a success.

It is The Chronicle’s understanding that the sale of the Abergavenny restaurant would also be conditional on the transfer of responsibility of employment of all its current staff, with hope that jobs will be protected whatever happens.

Sadly, early reports indicate Abergavenny is not a part of the rescue package. But no official public directory has been released confirming which sites have already been snapped up, leaving many to wonder what could become of the popular family-friendly eatery.