Disposal

Whitbread PLC
25 July 2003

25th July 2003



                     Whitbread announces £57m Swallow sale

Whitbread PLC ('Whitbread') announces that it has agreed to sell 13 Swallow
hotels and the Swallow brand in two transactions totalling £57m.

The properties will be leased to Maycastle Limited, a company within The London
Inn Group (which also includes London and Edinburgh Inns Limited), which has
agreed to acquire the hotels operating business for £5 million.  Payment of this
consideration will be deferred over five years.  It is expected that the
purchaser will change its name to 'Swallow Hotels Limited' on completion and the
hotels will continue to trade under the Swallow name.

On completion, companies within the REIT Group will acquire property interests
in the hotels for an aggregate cash consideration of £52m.

Acquired in January 2000 through Whitbread's purchase of Swallow Group PLC, the
properties had formed part of a larger estate of 38 Swallow hotels.

Twenty-three of these have now been converted to the Marriott and Renaissance
brands that Whitbread operates in the UK under licence from Marriott
International. The former Swallow International in London opened last week as
the London Marriott Hotel Kensington and it is planned that one remaining
property, the Nelson hotel in Norwich, will be re-branded as a Marriott in the
future.

Alan Parker, managing director of Whitbread's hotels business, said: 'These are
good, profitable provincial hotels but ones which we knew at the time of
acquisition were not suitable for conversion to the Marriott brand. I am
delighted that we have achieved a price close to book value for our
shareholders, despite being in the toughest trading market for years.'

Alan Bowes, executive chairman of the London Inn Group, said: 'We are delighted
with the purchase of this hotels business along with the Swallow brand. Swallow
remains a recognised and well-respected brand and these hotels are well located
with an experienced management in place. We intend to build upon this to develop
the Swallow brand in the UK.'

The transactions are expected to complete in September.

                                     -ends-


City (inc. financial press)
Whitbread PLC                        Dan Waugh             020 7806 5442         07799 581763
                                     David Reed            020 7806 5437
REIT                                 Kevin McGrath         020 7499 2244
London Inn Group                     Peter Gray            01622 685200
Trade Press
Whitbread Hotel Co                   Anna Glover           01582 499285


Notes/ Whitbread announces £57m Swallow disposal

Notes to editors

The following hotels, comprising a total of 1,148 bedrooms, are included in the
sale:

Swallow Hilltop, Carlisle                            Swallow Belstead Brook, Ipswich
Swallow George, Chollerford, Northumberland          Swallow Imperial, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Swallow Hotel, Dundee                                Swallow Churchgate, Old Harlow, Essex
Swallow Three Tuns, Durham                           Swallow Hotel, Preston
Swallow Hotel, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear                Swallow Eden Arms, Rushyford, Co Durham
Swallow Hotel, Glasgow                               Swallow Hotel, Stockton on Tees
Swallow Hotel, Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Whitbread and Marriott

Whitbread franchises the Marriott Hotels brand in the UK from Marriott
International. As well as the 22 former Swallow sites that have been converted
to Marriott, two have been re-branded as Renaissance hotels, a four-star brand
that is also owned by Marriott International.

Whitbread PLC

Whitbread PLC is the leisure business. Its aim is to create value for its
shareholders through its management of popular branded businesses in the UK's
leisure markets. Whitbread's brand portfolio comprises the leading names in: UK
hotels (with Travel Inn and Marriott Hotels); casual dining (Brewers Fayre,
Brewsters, Beefeater, Pizza Hut, TGI Friday's and Costa); and racquets, health
and fitness clubs (David Lloyd Leisure).

The company employs 65,000 people in a wide variety of roles - from
green-keepers and tennis coaches to chefs and logistics experts. In 2002/2003,
Whitbread's businesses produced sales of over £1.8bn.

Founded in 1742, the company has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since
1948 (as WTB.LSE) and is a member of the FTSE 100 and FTSE4Good indices.

For more information on Whitbread PLC, please visit www.whitbread.co.uk


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange