Happy International Women’s Day to all the wonderful women at Welcome Break and across the world! 💜 To mark the occasion, we sat down with some inspiring women across the business to share their lived experiences and open up honest conversations around the mental load, caring responsibilities, endometriosis, menopause, and allyship. We also proudly launched our new Women@WB Inclusion Network and shared our lowest ever gender pay gap – two milestones that reflect our ongoing commitment to driving gender parity and equity for our world class team. A huge thank you to Nicola Marshall, Janine Gray, and Amy Holmes for inspiring this year’s celebrations and sharing your experiences so openly.
Our head office has a fresh new look! 🔨 Last week, we opened the doors to our newly refurbished head office in Newport Pagnell – and we think you’ll agree it looks fantastic. 🤩 Our head office is the engine room for the functions, ideas, and support that enable our 61 sites and 31 hotels to deliver an exceptional customer experience for people on the move. With continued investment in our sites across the UK, it felt like the right moment to give our support centre some love too. A huge thank you to Paul Johnson and Amy Holmes for bringing this space to life. It’s already buzzing with creativity, collaboration, and community. ⭐️
Our Kate's Cabin site is growing, and we’d love for you to grow with us! 🌮☕ If you’re looking for your next opportunity, we’ve opened applications for several Manager roles. And there’s more to come! Our Supervisor and Team Member roles will be going live in the next few weeks — so keep an eye out for updates. ⭐
We’re incredibly proud to celebrate Kirsty Bateman on her fantastic achievement at the Lifetime Learning Awards 2026, where she was named Retail and Logistics Apprentice of the Year 🏆 Kirsty’s apprenticeship journey has truly transformed her coaching and leadership skills, and we’re honoured to have supported her development through both her apprenticeship and our BREAKthrough leadership development programme. Congratulations, Kirsty! 👏
Celebrating an incredible night at KFC UK & Ireland’s Annual RGM FEST 🍗 We are thrilled to share some fantastic news from the other night’s KFC RGM FEST, where our team achieved an outstanding trio of wins. First, a huge congratulations to Ishtiaq Rabbani and Marcus Cooper for achieving Champions Club status. Only a selected 30 managers out of more than 1,000 across the system achieve this recognition, based on exceptional scorecard performance. A phenomenal achievement from both of them. Ishtiaq and Marcus will be heading to Rome later this year for a well deserved four day celebration with the KFC Management Team ✈️ And now for the headline moment… The Prestigious KFC RGM Of The Year Award. The number one manager across the entire UK business was awarded to Ishtiaq Rabbani! An extraordinary achievement, made even more special as this marks his second time receiving the title, having first won in 2013. The Welcome Break team couldn’t have been prouder. The energy, the applause, and the sheer pride in the room were unforgettable. A massive well done to Ishtiaq, Marcus, and everyone who contributed to such an incredible night. 💚 #KFC #championsclub #recognition
Doing good in our communities through the Welcome Break Charitable Fund. The Welcome Break Charitable Fund, established in 2023, was created to give back to the communities where we operate. Through fundraising, volunteering, and awareness, we make a real difference to the people living in our local communities across the Great Britain and Northern Ireland. For every £1 raised: - 65p goes to our charity partner - 30p supports our Community Grant Fund - 5p helps the National Emergencies Trust Over the past three years, we’ve proudly partnered with Macmillan Cancer Support in Great Britain and Friends of the Cancer Centre in Northern Ireland. So far, we’ve raised an incredible £657,929 for Macmillan and £147,101 for Friends of the Cancer Centre, helping to support the lives of those living cancer, with an ambition to fundraise even more throughout this year. To continue the impactful work in our communities, from 2027, the Welcome Break Charitable Fund will launch new charity partnerships in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This is an excellent opportunity for organisations that believe in our goal of doing good in our communities and share our values of We Care, We Deliver, We are a Team. Applications for this partnership will open in January 2026. We encourage eligible charities to review the criteria and prepare to submit their applications. Further information is available on our website: https://lnkd.in/drb69HYw
Welcome Break Charitable Fund are proud to unite with Macmillan Cancer Support and Mates in Mind to launch our HGV Driver Wellness Initiative. Long hours on the road can take a toll on both physical and mental health. That’s why we’re teaming up to promote regular check-ins and check-ups because wellbeing matters. To find out more about the initiative and how we can help, visit: https://lnkd.in/eWtk_p3X
Our Award-Winning Digital HR Technology at Welcome Break! 💚 We’re proud to receive the Digital HR and Technology Award at this year’s Personnel Today Awards! This achievement celebrates our commitment to building cutting-edge, impactful people platforms that transform our e-learning and internal communication – enabling our world class team to deliver an exceptional customer experience for people on the move. ⭐️ A huge congratulations to our People Team on another fantastic win! 🏆
We’re honoured to receive two nominations at this year’s WiHTL & Diversity in Retail Inclusion in Awards ⭐️ John Diviney, CEO, and Nicola Marshall, People Director, have been nominated for Most Inclusive Group CEO and Most Inclusive Group CPO in Hospitality, Travel, and Leisure. These nominations reflect our ongoing commitment to inclusion across Welcome Break and our passion to lead with purpose and integrity. 💚 Congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees! 🏆
Yesterday saw the return of our golf day at Whittlebury Hall. It was a fantastic day of golf, followed by a lovely evening meal and awards. Thank you to all those who joined us in the sunshine and helped raise over £15,000 for the Welcome Break Charitable Fund in the process. Particular thanks must go to our sponsors: Taco Bell ONEUROPE (UK & Europe), Taylormade Landscape Contractors, Bethell Group, RE:SURE | A Fortus Company, J Brand Ltd, Inspired Entertainment, Inc., Howes Percival, Charmac Ltd, Ashleigh, Bunzl UK and Ireland, Phat Pasty Co : (Certified B Corp™), I-Tel Group We are incredibly grateful to those who attended and we already can't wait for next year's event!
