Ember Inns is a brand of Mitchells & Butlers (also referred to as “M&B”)
Mitchells & Butlers plc runs circa 1,784 managed pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. The company’s headquarters are in Birmingham, England. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Its branded restaurants and bars include All Bar One, Miller & Carter, Nicholson’s, Toby Carvery, Harvester, Browns Restaurants, Vintage Inns, Ember Inns, Son of Steak, Stonehouse Pizza & Grill, Crown Carveries, O’Neill’s, Premium Country Pubs, and Sizzling Pubs. The company also owns the ALEX brand based in Germany.
By 2006, Mitchells & Butlers had 130 Harvester restaurants. In 2001, it added Arena, Ember Inns, Flares, Goose, Sizzling Pub Co, Browns, Alex and Inn Keeper’s Lodge to its list of brands. In July 2006, Mitchells & Butlers purchased 239 pub restaurants (Beefeater and Brewers Fayre without a Premier Inn) from Whitbread for £497 million to strengthen its food business ahead of the introduction of a smoking ban in enclosed public spaces in England in 2007. It had first announced its interest in April 2006. In July 2008 Mitchells & Butlers bought 44 restaurants from Whitbread – its former Brewers Fayre and Beefeater outlets that were not next to a Premier Inn. In September 2010 Mitchells & Butlers bought the 22 restaurants of the (upmarket) Ha Ha! chain from the Bay Restaurant Group for £19.5 million. Twelve were turned into All Bar One and six into Browns Restaurants. The Ha Ha! brand disappeared.
In June 2014, the company announced plans to acquire the bulk of one of its major competitors, Orchid Group, for £266 million. The acquisition included 173 pubs.