Where are the Little Chefs going?

[Glenn A]

Is the one on the A69 still safe as this also has another use as a toilet stop for many people?
However, Little Chef were let down by their motorway prices, poor quality and often sullen staff.

[NSWP]

Thanks for the information on Little Chefs. Maybe the British diet is changing and the burgers, chips etc are on the way out? Never !

Some of the country pubs should open for breakfast and morning tea, to replace the Little Chefs. Nothing like a pint of 'Scrumpy at 0800.

[PeterA5145]

Some of the country pubs should open for breakfast and morning tea, to replace the Little Chefs. Nothing like a pint of 'Scrumpy at 0800.

A lot of Wetherspoons do, although they don't serve alcohol before 9 am. And they have now expanded to many of the smaller market towns such as Chippenham and Devizes.

[TS]

Some of the country pubs should open for breakfast and morning tea, to replace the Little Chefs. Nothing like a pint of 'Scrumpy at 0800.

A lot of Wetherspoons do, although they don't serve alcohol before 9 am. And they have now expanded to many of the smaller market towns such as Chippenham and Devizes.

Mmm Wetherspoon breakfast! I live off those when away. For something like £4:40 you get 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausages, beans, black pudding or tomato, two slices of toast, and three hash browns! Added to cheap Travelodge deals at £10 room-only and it's the cheapest way to do b&b!

As you say, a lot of them open at 7am and even in the smaller provincial towns they are open from 9.

[NSWP]

Yum, Wetherspoons Pubs looks the go for a feed. Have to try them out. £4.40 is a bargain. You would not get that brekkie for that prices in Australia.

Full English Breakfast, just don't think about cholesterol or kilojules/calories, just enjoy!

When one need sustenance. Reduces the road toll.

[Mark Hewitt]

Wetherspoons used to (might still) advertise breakfast for £1.99. There wasn't much to it, but there was enough!

Better than nearly a tenner at some hotels.

[Mattsignmaker]

There used to be one here where centurion house is now. On the intersect of the m25 and the A5 Watling Street but too far from the m25 junction to be of any use to motorway travellers. Must have shut down in the mid 90's but I will always remember it as there was a £1 coin glued to the doorstep

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll= ... 4&t=h&z=18

[Alan]

Just posted the most up to date list I have of closures on MSA online website. Info has been got by the changes to the list on the LC website over the last few weeks and from Helen at LC.

Due to be closed by Monday 6th February

Appleby A66 (multi-award winning site)
Ashchurch A438 (near M5)
Barnetby M180/ A15
Bickerstaffe M58 J3
Brenzett A259
Broadlands A47
Buckland A420
Kennford North A38
Little Eaton A38/ A61
Milton Keynes A5
Saxmundham A12
Smithaleigh A38
Spean Bridge A82
Thirsk A168
Trewern A458
Warwick North A46 (re-opened in 2009)
Whitchurch A41
Wisbech A47

Closed also this year in January.

Ings A591 which only re-opened in 2009
Malton A64 which also only re-opened in 2009
Capel St Mary North A12
Kinmel Park East A55
Adlington
Barton U Needwood
Bebington
Burton South
Cross Hands
Dumbarton
Dundee
Hagley
Hartlebury
Hellingly
Kilmarnock
Middlewich
Mirfield
Newby
Newtown
Rising Bridge
Worksop
Hope-U-Dinmore

These means that, of the 4 sites that Ian Pegler re-opened in 2009, only 1, Shiptonthorpe, survives so far. I believe a few of the sites under review are getting a stay of execution until June. Whether or not this means that they may be saved come June or whether it is down to leasing agreements I don't know. What I do know is that some of my roadtrips may no longer be the same. The drive to Spean Bridge along the side of Loch Laggan with the Nevis Range in the background is always capped of nicely with an Olympic Breakfast.

It now leaves the Balhaldies as the furthest north Little Chefs in the UK and only 4 in Scotland remain. Changed days from an empire that used to stretch from Hayle to Forres.

[NICK 647063]

Quite a list of ones closing I see the A168 at Thirsk is on there was still open the other day and looked quite nice from outside, maybe someone will make it into a diner like the diner 168 over the road another former little chef!

[Truvelo]

According to Travelodge the attached Little Chef at this hotel closed in 2010. About half way down on the page it is mentioned.

[Patrick Harper]

They have been redeveloping their image, improving food and service quality and opening new restaurants, but it hasn't really been enough to counteract the many that are closing.

[NSWP]

Just posted the most up to date list I have of closures on MSA online website. Info has been got by the changes to the list on the LC website over the last few weeks and from Helen at LC.

Due to be closed by Monday 6th February

Appleby A66 (multi-award winning site)
Ashchurch A438 (near M5)
Barnetby M180/ A15
Bickerstaffe M58 J3
Brenzett A259
Broadlands A47
Buckland A420
Kennford North A38
Little Eaton A38/ A61
Milton Keynes A5
Saxmundham A12
Smithaleigh A38
Spean Bridge A82
Thirsk A168
Trewern A458
Warwick North A46 (re-opened in 2009)
Whitchurch A41
Wisbech A47

Closed also this year in January.

Ings A591 which only re-opened in 2009
Malton A64 which also only re-opened in 2009
Capel St Mary North A12
Kinmel Park East A55
Adlington
Barton U Needwood
Bebington
Burton South
Cross Hands
Dumbarton
Dundee
Hagley
Hartlebury
Hellingly
Kilmarnock
Middlewich
Mirfield
Newby
Newtown
Rising Bridge
Worksop
Hope-U-Dinmore

These means that, of the 4 sites that Ian Pegler re-opened in 2009, only 1, Shiptonthorpe, survives so far. I believe a few of the sites under review are getting a stay of execution until June. Whether or not this means that they may be saved come June or whether it is down to leasing agreements I don't know. What I do know is that some of my roadtrips may no longer be the same. The drive to Spean Bridge along the side of Loch Laggan with the Nevis Range in the background is always capped of nicely with an Olympic Breakfast.

It now leaves the Balhaldies as the furthest north Little Chefs in the UK and only 4 in Scotland remain. Changed days from an empire that used to stretch from Hayle to Forres.

Thanks for the list Alan, TRAGIC just tragic. I might make it my mission during my 3 weeks in England to visit as many surviving Little Chefs as possible, a junk food journey for sure. Not sure if the 'Boss' will go along with that though.

[scragend]

On Friday the Little Chef on the East Lancs at Haydock had a huge inflatable Chef outside, holding a banner advertising "Coffee".

I wouldn't be surprised if that particular Little Chef isn't long for this world. I can't really see who it's aimed at these days - long distance traffic will whizz past half a mile away on the M6 without even knowing the Chef is there, and if you pass it on the Lancs you're only half an hour max from Liverpool or Manchester, and you'd probably wait till you got there.

[Alan]

You're right Truvelo. There was a spate of closures in summer 2010 as well and that claimed
Burnley
Baldock
Edinburgh Musselburgh
Astley
Sheffield
Cambridge West
Oldbury
Maresfield
Littleton
Sedgefield

This was shortly after Pegler left I think.

The one at Detling just off the M20 closed right at the end of last year too, just after the announcement about looking to open additional sites in the future. I hear that Mickeys Diner, who used to run the former Little Chef at Harbledown on the A2 (that burned down recently) and run the former Little Chef at Bluebellhill, have now taken it over too.

I still think there is a market for what Little Chef does. I recently stopped at an OK Diner on the A1, only to be told that they had a 30 minute wait on tables. Their menu, restaurant size and prices are about the same as Little Chef but their restaurants actually feel like a bit of an event in themselves which, sadly until recently, many Little Chefs didn't. Years of underinvestment brought about by lots of changes in owners and subsequent changes in plans, meant that many had just been "patched up" at most of they were lucky over the years and I'm sure faded paint, burst seats and broken signage and lights didn't really inspire confidence for the average motorist. Such a shame because I'd say the food is actually pretty decent and the majority of the staff really decent, friendly and making the most of what they had to work with!

If investment across the restaurants had been forthcoming over the last 12 years, I don't think we would have seen so many close but sadly it can't be changed. Whether or not some are closing purely because they are not making profit or becuase the profits they are making cannot justify the new-style refurb I don't know - I'd rather see some of the quieter branches just properly maintained rather than totally refurbed if it saves them from closure - but at least something is going to be done to the ones that remain.

[SteveA30]

That's right, the constant change of ownership and subsequently policy, is the main reason for the decline. Permira especially, who inherited over 400 and, reduced them by more than half, to realise max profits from selling on to the next buyer. Earlier owners had bought out HE, AJ's and Kelly's Kitchen and either closed them or rebranded as LC. The result for us, who they always forget about, is a lack of choice, then a decimation of outlets. This combined with a lack of maintenance and investment, because all these owners are only in it for the short term, combined with constantly changing policies, is the reason for the present sorry state. Move into MSA's, move out of MSA's. Hook up with BK, seperate from BK. Roll out Coffee Tempo, cut back on Coffee Tempo. Lack of consistency, creating customer dissatisfaction, is the real reason. If they could just be left alone to concentrate on long term plans, without interruption, they could be around for many more decades.

[Alan]

I agreen Steve. If you look back through the history the last totally new Little Chef sites - not the ones that People's restaurant Company and later Ian Pegler re-opened - were conceived under Compass ownership which ended in 2002. All Permira seemed interested in was getting their hands on Travelodge so I wonder if they had to take LC grudginly as well in order to get it. Either way Travelodge grew and Little Chef shrank without any new sites in that time period.

I did see a very good post on the LC Facebook page which made the point that R capital, although actually doing something about refurbs, are still a Venture Capital firm and not a Caterer, so maybe they are a tad more ruthless when it comes to closures than a catering firm would be and have a certain idea as to what level of profitability should be achieved.

Makes me wonder too. Given that Ian Pegler suddenly left Little Chef and gave the excuse that he'd done his jop and got them back into profit, was this an example of the above? This was his second stint running Little Chef - he'd done it under Forte - and he is quoted in 2008 as saying
"I was made redundant from Little Chef in 1994, and I'd often wondered if I could have done more in that business. Now I've got a second chance. Not many people are able to finish off what they started".
Was he perhaps, as a Little Chef fan and former manager in a hospitality firm, perhaps more ready to open sites and allow lower profitability for the sake of keeping sites open than R capital would have liked? Either way, a lot of sites, including 3 out of the 4 that he re-opened, are now no more since his departure.

[AAndy]

little chef lost the plot in the early 90's imo... by the mid-90's it was stagnating. Even in the late 80's it was going downhill. ... and that was after the early to mid 80's fight for supremacy with happy eater..... and we havn't a thread wbout happy eater have we?!
The brand will be lost soon, I'm sad at its demise , but also because they now and have been, for the last 10yrs, serving crap coffee - which is why I do not use them now or , for the past 10 years..except 3 or 4 times a year to see if the have any decent coffe in.

[Jeni]

I am rather surprised the one on the A38 near Droitwich is still open. I would have thought that'd be one of the first to face the chop, considering that approximately zero percent of the traffic there is anywhere near long distance!

[NSWP]

I think the Supermarket cafes like in Tescos situated near major junctions/roundabouts on the outskirts of towns have also impacted upon the Little Chef establishments. When I was last in UK in 2004, I visited a few of these supermarket cafes, good value and edible tucker - mostly.

[Alan]

Well Little Chef now claim to have finished their "restructuring" and are still maintaining that 95 restaurants will be left. However, 114 are still open so I don't know if this means that the rest will be closing shortly or whether it means the plans are all finalised so the ones that will make it to June are basically doomed after that.

From what I can hear talks with some of the landlords broke down - possibly the "under review" part was the talks - which meant that Little Chef, the company, technically went into administration. However, R Capital still own Little Chef and have bought or leased back 95 of the most profitable sites and will continue to run Little Chefs in them leaving, I suppose, the landlords of the abandoned sites to pick up the pieces. I can only presume that putting the company in administration allowed them to get out of the costly leases that were weighing them down but it all seems a bit confusing.

Anyway, in the process 5 more branches have closed.
Barton Mills North A11(The last former AJ's site under Little Chef ownership)
Farrington Gurney A37
Markham Moor South A1 (Yup, the most distinctive roadside cafe on the A1)
Picket Post A31
West Lynn A17/ A47.

This leaves 114 Little Chefs plus the 2 Burger King only sites making 116 LC run establishments.