The LC at Frimley was at Bagshot and was the smallest I think. It was L shaped and, built over a stream, next to a BP garage, which is still there. The LC closed in the 80's and was demolished.
There was one at Blackwater as well, also gone.

I meant to stop into the one on the A12 between Chelmsford and Marks Tey en route to a gig up that way, but I had a few grand's worth of musical gear on the back seat that I didn't fancy leaving in the car park for any length of time. To be honest, I don't really have a particular desire to go in one other than to do so before they all close!

It is a real pity the majority have closed because it is hard to find something to replace their Olympic Breakfast. I'm surprised their use of Heston Blumenthal didn't lead to a longer revival of their fortunes.

Given the present restrictions on the use of certain words would LC be able to sell an O_______pic breakfast any more?

They were talking about that on HIGNFY the other week. Apparently there's now a 'Lympic' café in London and some businesses have resorted to replacing 'pic' with 'pus', with some hilarious signs. The Olympic trademark management seems to be extremely overzealous, especially with how it is targetting small businesses.

It is surprising given that the ethos of the olympics is one of non-commercialism ... #

"The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. "

edit: ... gone completely off-topic.

The hignfy did specifically mention LC's breakfast and LC are still using the term ,. see here

I always laugh at the irony of McDonalds and Cadbury giving a fair amount of money to an event designed to promote sports.

No, but during the Beijing Olympics, what with Michael Phelps' diet being publicised, I ate a Little Chef Olympic Breakfast and felt that the Trade Descriptions Act should have had them down for not being big enough.

The Olympic breakfast of Michael Phelps:

• three fried egg sandwiches, with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and mayonnaise
• three chocolate-chip pancakes
• a five-egg omelette
• three sugar-coated slices of French toast
• a bowl of grits
• two cups of coffee

The Olympic breakfast of the Little Chef:

• Two rashers of back bacon
• sausage
• two free range griddled eggs
• mushroom
• sauté potatoes
• griddled tomato
• baked beans
• toast or fried bread

OK, the Little Chef has a larger variety of stuff (including bacon!), though drinks aren't included. There's a huge difference in the number of eggs though - 2 verses about 10. And probably less sugar and fat in the Little Chef version - even gram for gram. I do like the sound of those fried egg sandwiches though...

Then again, if you look at the price of a Little Chef Olympic Breakfast (£7.99 - admittedly the same as 4 years ago), it's not hard to see why they have struggled. That's a 10 item breakfast (and each item is quite small) - the non-student price for that at Southampton University Student Union (the one 10-item I can recall the price of) is less than half that, and likewise at most greasy spoons throughout the land, you'd be able to get that amount of breakfast, with a drink, for not much more than £5.

The price was really my complaint - certainly the Olympic breakfast didn't really need to be bigger - it just needed to be cheaper.

The OK Diner at Stamford does fantastic pancakes and milkshake. I was pleasantly surprised!

And is one of the few places in Britain where you can get Root Beer too

I only drink coffee, can't even bear the smell of tea but I often now don't bother when I see the price of a cup of coffee. To add insult to injury you have to wait quite a time for these expensive coffees to be prepared, a simple cup of Nescafe would be fine for me!

People should respond by using the alternative name "Drugfest" for the duration of the event, that would probably annoy the O#####c Police more! Drugfest Breakfast, Drugfest Cafe ....

Here is a site devoted to them, old and new

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shandiness/

There is still one of the pair on the A3 at Burntcommon as well, I ought to drop in some time while it's still there.

They are trying now to attract more customers through price cuts, as shown at A303 West Knoyle. Whether it is too late to overturn peoples pre-conceptions of high prices, only time will tell.
Two of these are cheaper than a coffee on its own.

I didn't do trademark law (not many people do) but extending normal contract restrictions I do know they can't normally backdate them. The radio said Olympic was trademarked around the 80s, the Olympic Cafe in Neasden has been there about as long as me (the 60s) so can't see any reason for them to change. I also reckon if they all joined together they could bust the rule anyway as there are also precedents against public policy, and wrecking hundreds of business is a good example. It's always time and money which stops these idiotic rules being tested, not the law.

I saw a sign the other day for an OLYMMPIC FUN RUN, which I thought was a misspelling, but may well not have been.

Actually, the Olympics have their own law, rather than rely in trademarks.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/32/contents

The law allows anyone who was using the term Olympics before it was enacted (1995) to continue. It also applies to business names for bodies corporate, but I'm not sure if it would cover sole traders "trading as" Olympic Cafe, or whatever.

Guys, can we keep the Olympic talk for the unleashed forum. There is a thread there which talks about the same stuff. Thanks

SJ

Went past the Little Chef on the A2 near Dunkirk here yesterday, and there was a small sign posted to the window saying "We are open". Because, to be frank, it looked shut from the outside.

Another local Little Chef has recently closed. This one on the A41 just off junction 5 of the M53. I passed here a week ago and the building is boarded up with the road sign removed.

I'm genuinely surprised at the loss of this one because it fronts a Travelodge and is (or was) quite busy as Little Chef's go whenever I went past. Travelodge guests would also mean a regular stream of traffic – or at least I'd presumed so.

Those from the Travelodge will now have to travel up to Eastham or down to Hooton/Little Sutton to find something to eat/drink.

If these sites are now facing the chop, I fear for the future of the company.