April 2025
A few months ago, I came across this place entirely by chance while driving along the A5 towards North Wales. I stopped briefly at a Burger King for some microwave food and noticed an empty unit nearby. It was obvious at a glance that it used to be a Little Chef. Growing up, these restaurants were a familiar part of family road trips, so I was instantly curious. I looked through the windows and felt a rush of nostalgia as I recognized the classic roadside diner look. I tried to find a way inside, walking around the building but couldn't get in. I drove away and didn’t think about it again. That changed when I passed through Oswestry some weekends later. On my drive home, I saw the same Little Chef and decided to stop. To my surprise, I found a way in. I had a quick walk round hoping to find some Little Chef goodness but unfortunately a lot of the furniture had been removed post closure. The disabled toilet did sport some classic 80's Little Chef tiles. The kitchen area of the Little Chef is now being used by the adjoining Burger King, which made the exploration a little tense with employees walking past the internal door every few minutes.
Overall, it’s not anything special or fancy. But it’s rare to find a Little Chef in 2025 that isn’t either a Starbucks or a burnt out shit hole.
History
The Little Chef opened in 1987, replacing the Whittington branch nearby on the original A5, now called B5009. Whittington had closed because of changes to the road network west of Oswestry. The new Oswestry Bypass, a reroute of the A5, bypassed the older, quieter road. Since the original A5 had less traffic, Whittington Little Chef attracted fewer customers and eventually closed due to low profit. Forte responded by setting up a new site at Mile End Services, right next to a petrol station. Its location next to a roundabout made it very easy to reach and visible to all drivers. The old Whittington Little Chef was heavily renovated and turned into a bungalow with a driveway. Compared to the original site, Mile End Services was much larger. It included a Little Chef, a Travelodge, a petrol station, and a tourist centre. The Little Chef at Mile End had a typical style with a pitched roof, double front, and red bricks. It was attached to a larger building with a Tesco-style design, which housed the tourist centre. Walkways connected the Little Chef and the Travelodge. During the Granada era, a Burger King was added to the site. Despite many other Burger King outlets closing at Little Chef locations in the 2000s, the Oswestry branch remains open today.
In 2002, the Little Chef underwent a "New Choices" makeover. It received modern furniture and menus from Harry Ramsdens, Upper Crust, Wiseguys Pizza, and Caffe Ritazza. Later, the changes were reversed, and it operated as a more traditional Little Chef. In 2006, a Coffee Tempo was introduced at the site, alongside the Little Chef. The Coffee Tempo was gone by 2009. In the early 2010s, Euro Garages bought the site. They opened a Starbucks on the Go in the forecourt building. Later, Subway and Greggs also opened inside, making five food outlets in total. After Euro Garages took over in 2017, the Oswestry site became an EG Diner in January 2018. This was due to the end of Euro Garages’ licence to use the Little Chef brand. The site is likely to be rebranded as something new later on. By October 2018, all EG Diners, including Oswestry, closed down. The Burger King still operates independently from the joined Little Chef building which now stands empty and abandoned.
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Fujifilm X-T5, 10-24mm f4 R OIS WR
