Pubs and hotels group Whitbread plans to create about 8,000 jobs and to quit its London head office.
The company said it would recruit the staff as part of plans to double its investment in new sites in the next four years to between £150m and £200m a year.
It will need about 5,000 people at 100 new pub restaurants being opened by its Brewers Fayre and Beefeater chains, giving it about 500 pub restaurants, the company said.
The group will also take on about 2,000 extra people for five new David Lloyd Leisure Centres a year over the four years, and 1,000 workers for 50 new Costa Coffee outlets.
Whitbread also announced an £800m programme of asset disposals, including the sale of its historic former headquarters building in the City of London. It is quitting its London head office to move to Bedfordshire.
