Whitbread breakfast fundraising commitment pledge turns team into (baked) bean counters

Premier Inn owner Whitbread is donating 25 pence to charity for every breakfast its guests’ tuck into on Better Breakfast Day on Friday, 26 September 2025.

The owner of the UK’s biggest hotel company will be donating the money – up to the tune of £25,000 – to its longstanding charity partner Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity).

The money will go towards parent company Whitbread’s fundraising challenge to raise £20 million by 2027 towards building the new Children’s Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) as part of GOSH Charity’s Build it. Beat it. appeal.

An incredible £10 million has already been raised for the centre, which will bring life-changing care and hope to children facing cancer across the UK, and every breakfast sold will help inch closer to the target. Over the course of Whitbread and GOSH Charity’s partnership, more than £27 million has been raised for seriously ill children treated at GOSH.

Guests can choose from the famous Premier Inn cooked breakfast and also enjoy continental options including fruit, cereal and yogurt. Plus, for every paying adult up to two under 16s eat breakfast for free.

Managing Director Simon Ewins said: “With £10 million already raised towards the new Children’s Cancer Centre, we could not be any prouder of our teams and guests whose generosity never fails to astound us. We’re delighted to donate per breakfast sold on September 26 – our teams will be geared up to serve delicious breakfasts up and down the land and excited, as ever, to serve our guests”. He added: “You might say the fundraising drive will turn us all into ‘(baked) bean counters’!”

Sarah Bissell, Deputy Director of Relationship Fundraising at GOSH Charity, said: “We are enormously grateful to Premier Inn, one of our Children’s Cancer Centre Founder Partners, and all their customers and colleagues, for their extraordinary commitment and generosity. To have raised £27 million through the partnership so far is incredible, and initiatives like these move us even closer towards hitting our ambitious fundraising targets to help us build the future of children’s cancer care.”

Whitbread and GOSH Charity have been in partnership since 2012 – an association believed to be the UK’s most enduring.

During that time Whitbread guest, staff and suppliers have raised an incredible £27 million for GOSH Charity, which has helped the charity reach some milestone achievements – like opening the Premier Inn Clinical Building in 2018 and the Sight and Sound Centre in 2021.

Over the years fundraising endeavours have included hotel sales of the mascot Bernard Bear to help young guests get an even better night’s sleep, and hotel challenges as including abseils down the tallest Premier Inn and sponsored lie-ins.