29th September 2008

Whitbread PLC - Senior Independent Director

Whitbread PLC ("Whitbread") has today announced that it has appointed Stephen Williams as its Senior Independent Director with effect from 1st October. Stephen joined the Whitbread Board in April this year. He is General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer of Unilever plc and Unilever NV and is currently also Senior Independent Director at Arriva plc.

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Whitbread PLC

Julie Foster, Interim Director of Communications        01582 844244

Laura Pearson, Interim Communications Manager        01582 844854

Tulchan                             

David Allchurch                        020 7353 4200

For photographs, please visit www.whitbreadimages.co.uk

Notes to editors:

Whitbread PLC is the UK's largest hotel and restaurant company operating market-leading businesses in the budget hotels and restaurant sectors.  Its brands include Premier Inn, Beefeater, Table Table, Brewers Fayre, Taybarns and Costa Coffee. 

Whitbread PLC employs over 33,000 people and serves 8.5 million customers every month in its 1500 outlets across the UK.

In the financial year ending 28th February 2008, Whitbread PLC reported an 11.3%* increase in group revenue to £1.18* billion and 26.3% increase in pre-tax profit to £210.3 million. 

Whitbread PLC is a FTSE 100 company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is also a member of the FTSE4Good Index. In July 2008, Whitbread's market capitalization was circa £2.0 billion.

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