A hotel restaurant at the start of the West Highland Way is to close amid dwindling "non guest" footfall.

Staff are said to have been briefed yesterday that the West Highland Gate Beefeater, part of Premier Inn Milngavie, will close later this year.

Owners Whitbread said it was unable to confirm how many jobs will be impacted "while they are still subject to consultation."

The company said last month that while the UK hotel operation had gone from "strength to strength" some of its branded restaurants, which are not on site, had been impacted by a reduction in footfall from non-hotel guests "with the result that they have struggled to meet their target level of return"

Premier Inn recorded a 13% increase in sales and a 36% increase in pre-tax profits £561m last year.

The Herald:

A spokeswoman added: "We recognise that this will be unsettling for our team members and we are providing them with dedicated support.

"We are committed to working hard to enable as many as possible of our affected team members to stay with us by either transferring into new roles, or by taking up other vacancies across the business more broadly through our existing recruitment activity.

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She added that there were no imminent changes and the restaurant is currently trading as usual.

Whitbread is to add 3,500 new hotel rooms to Premier Inn’s UK offering and diversify its food and beverage offering "to deliver a better experience for even more of our hotel guests".

Around 120,000 people use the West Highland Way each year with around 36,000 visitors walking the whole trail.