Where are the Little Chefs going?

[MatthewB6323]

Euro Garages are a subsidiary of Intervias, a company formed after Euro Garages merged with continental group EFR; but the Issas brothers, who founded Euro Garages, seem to be very much in charge of the merged group and certainly of the British division. I think all the Little Chef sites are leased from other landlords - Euro Garages bought the sites and the businesses conducted at them, but not the Little Chef name.

[Altnabreac]

Answering my own question, Little Chef Dunblane A9 S/B closed its doors according to its own facebook page in March 2017.

With this closure there are no longer any Little Chefs in Scotland.

It's apparently to reopen as a Starbucks in the next month or two.

Drove past it yesterday and it still retains all its Little Chef branding, with just a small "Greggs coming soon" sign up on a fence. Obviously not rushing to open something new on the site.

[Brett_Cook]

One of the Kettering A14 branches is now Greggs & Subway, oddly not a Starbucks.

Little chef totem pole has still not been taken down as yet.

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[ravenbluemoon]

Looks like the one south of Colsterworth on the A1 is now open as a Starbucks.

Not sure if the one at Peterborough showground is deserted or still open given the hours I pass it, but I'm heading out towards Ipswich/Norwich tomorrow so will find out.

[Mettie]

Not sure if the one at Peterborough showground is deserted or still open given the hours I pass it, but I'm heading out towards Ipswich/Norwich tomorrow so will find out.

It was open Monday, about 7.20am, but it shuts early now, usually closed before I pass it at about 6pm. Noticed the closing time on the sign has been covered over for a while now too, so it looks like it’s close when they lose the will...


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[Hdeng16]

One of the Kettering A14 branches is now Greggs & Subway, oddly not a Starbucks.

Little chef totem pole has still not been taken down as yet.

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Eurogarages already have a medium sized service area with fuel and a Starbucks drive through on the A43 north of the town. Maybe that's why. It's on the "old new bit" of the A43.

[ravenbluemoon]

Not sure if the one at Peterborough showground is deserted or still open given the hours I pass it, but I'm heading out towards Ipswich/Norwich tomorrow so will find out.

It was open Monday, about 7.20am, but it shuts early now, usually closed before I pass it at about 6pm. Noticed the closing time on the sign has been covered over for a while now too, so it looks like it’s close when they lose the will...


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Yes, it has been looking very bedraggled for some time now, obviously there's no point putting new bulbs in signs when it is due to shut, for example.
There was a couple of customers in as I crawled past at 8 this morning, maybe it'll hold out until the bitter end?

[dazzyc1970]

Owestry on the A5 still open, went in and enjoyed an Olympic Breakfast on the way back from family in North Wales. Friendly staff and quick service.

[mikehindsonevans]

Owestry on the A5 still open, went in and enjoyed an Olympic Breakfast on the way back from family in North Wales. Friendly staff and quick service.

Yes, that came as a pleasant surprise to us yesterday, en-route from Conwy to Winchester via the A5 and Worcester before joining the M5 southbound. I could have sworn someone wrote here that they had all shut. Happy days and mega-calories!

[Big Nick]

Tried to visit the A14 Huntingdon/Fenstanton one last week but it was closed at 8pm. Google Maps show the Burger King closes at 8pm, the Little Chef is only 7am-3pm.

Going by reviews the Black Cat (7am-4pm) is the best still going.

The one at South Witham has finished the makeover and is now Starbucks, all in black. Looks really different and stands out well. I can remember sitting in the now gone front window, having lunch and watching Harriers fly over.

[sotonsteve]

Just in case it hasn't already been mentioned, on the A34 both Tot Hill and Family Farm are now Starbucks. The A34 is now free of Little Chefs from the M3 to M40.

There is still a Little Chef at Oswestry in Shropshire.

[Pete]

First post, hello!

Been following the little chef saga for a while now and with some fascination this year into how the closures are planned out (or rather, seemingly not planned at all).

Unfortunately it's so difficult to find anything on the internet, but it seems that they are now down to 15 sites (according to Google maps as people are quite good at reporting places as closed nowadays). Rather concentrated in central england.

Sites are seemingly not knowing when they're closing and there is no LC head office so they get zero support, no maintenance and more importantly no cleaning, with toilets seemingly not actually touched since kout sold out. Website not updated.. everything a sorry state. It's a surprise they've actually got suppliers!

Even when sites are closing there's some which don't have any info still. Uttoxeter as an example closed with very short notice and has since remained empty, someone seemingly making an effort to pile up the chairs and tables for no reason.. And the site has had some work over a couple of months but nothing really - the little chef signs painted over, then taken down and placed by the building ready for someone to take away. Any takers??

Just seems that eurogarages took them on purely as an opportunist then haven't managed to cope with the amount of work required. Weirdly keeping sites open assumingly to keep the staff available rather than anything else?

An interest for mine is does kout own anything such as the subway and bks or is that all eurogarages now? Does anyone know when these will finally bite the dust (apart from knowing by end of jan)? Seems weird it's so hush when there's literally no need to keep the reputation of the sites.

In the meantime, two sites remain open close to me and hoping that get to visit them one last time before they go!

[Nicholas]

Ringwood went at the start of December for Subway conversion.

Stoney Cross is still open (sat in it as I type) but on reduced hours of 7-3. Very busy at the moment! Staff say they expect it to change over at any time - the alcohol license has been handed back and some food items have been removed... most likely to become a Starbucks the staff reckon.

[Osthagen]

I’m reasonably sure that all of the ones in Scotland are closed now. The last one TMK was at Balhaldie near Dunblane close not that long ago.

[avtur]

Going back in time Little Chef was a well known and respected brand in the UK, in some ways it is a shame to see how it has declined over the years. Sometimes brands are lost at the stoke of a corporate pen, one day they are there, the next they are gone. But with Little Chef we've had to watch a very slow death of the brand. In its hey day as part of the "Trust House Forte" group it was a household name and its service was valued by its customers, but it has struggled to compete in the much changing world of road side food offerings.

Mrs Avtur was a site manager for LC back in the late 80's to early 90's. LC was never 'fast food' outlet, all main course being cooked to order. This was a double edged sword, it meant that quality was good generally good but it came at the expense of time, LC was never a good option for a 'quick' stop. One feature of LC is that they often developed a very strong regular clientele who were not actually travellers but local people who would regularly eat out at their local LC.

The advent of McD's and KFC at roadside locations changed the landscape for travelling food stops. At these outlets you might queue for a few minutes to be served but you would then have your meal available for immediate consumption and that started to differentiate LC from these newer offerings, LC was great if you had the time, but the alternatives were better for time sensitive travellers. And that is how the rot set in, as we can all see there have been many twists and turns in the fortunes of LC but they never really got to grips in competing with 'fast food' outlets.

Personally I think the management was never up to the challenge of the changing environment, they were too "up themselves" believing that customers would remain loyal to their ways rather than looking at the competition and working out how to match and beat them. The management system in the THF days was archaic and misogynistic, my wife would come home with tales of how the regional managers (all males - where site staff were 95% female) would treat them which left me wanting to get in the car, find these guys and sort them out for the way they treated my wife and her colleagues.

On a lighter note by way of helping my wife make the most of her LC unit I played Father Christmas for three years running in an attempt to draw in young families. My wife's home unit was Monks Heath (A34 near Alderley Edge) although she worked in units all over the North West.

[Johnathan404]

I’m reasonably sure that all of the ones in Scotland are closed now.

There's an easy way to check...

[B1040]

LC was never 'fast food' outlet, all main course being cooked to order. This was a double edged sword, it meant that quality was good generally good but it came at the expense of time, LC was never a good option for a 'quick' stop.

For us the problem came when you had a ten minute wait to place an order for a mid-morning coffee.
Alwalton on the A1 S seemed to be open this evening.

[Brett_Cook]

I believe we're down to just two along the length of the A14.

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[Chris56000]

Hi!

Has anyone got a definitive list of what LCs were open when the chain was at it's peak size? – (479 branches I think!)

Chris Williams

[Nicholas]

I’m reasonably sure that all of the ones in Scotland are closed now.

There's an easy way to check...

Although I'd take that with a pinch of salt - the one I was at earlier is shown as closed in that list. That's the problem when information is sketchy and sometimes conflicting.