THE North-East's work hard, play hard culture has helped leisure group Whitbread to forge ahead in the region.

Results from the recently opened TGI Fridays on Teesside and Tyneside, the opening of the first Swallow Hotel to be converted to the Marriot brand and the expansion of the Brewsters family restaurant chain have reflected Whitbread's continued investment in the region.

Since March, Whitbread has opened TGI Friday's restaurants at the Gateshead MetroCentre and at the Tees Barrage in Stockton, creating 150 jobs.

Since May, more than £110,000 has been invested in the conversion of two Brewers Fayre pubs to the family restaurant chain Brewsters.

Another conversion successfully completed has been the £1m rebranding of the Swallow Gosforth Park Hotel to a Marriot.

Whitbread's recent announcement that it is to restructure to concentrate on growth sectors of the UK market is expected to further the performance of its operations in the North-East.

Tom Bramley, Whitbread's regional director for the North-East, said: "Future Whitbread is about eating out, staying out and working out, and our focus will be on supporting the major brands of Marriott, Travel Inn, Brewers Fayre and Brewsters, Beefeater and David Lloyd Leisure.

"We are confident that this change in emphasis will build on our leading market position."

Nationally Whitbread reported a 5.9 per cent drop in pre-tax profits to £182.1m, while group sales slipped by 1.9 per cent to £1.77bn.

The fall was attributed to the removal of Whitbread's 3,000-pub portfolio.

The group also revealed plans to sell 50 of its struggling Cafe Rouge restaurants.

The disposals will see ten per cent of the restaurants division put up for sale.

However, Whitbread plans to create 1,000 new jobs by expanding its Costa Coffee brand from 220 sites to 500