jessicas dad:
it would be alright if some of them changed into your average sandwich shop, good quality fresh cooked food and at a good fair price, stop get a sarnie then off again… or greggs took them over.
The old little chef on the A30 in Cornwall at the junction with the B3257 signed ‘Callington’ has been a Subway for a couple of years now.
It’s got an almost ideal location with space for maybe 10 or more trucks in the car park and a petrol station so they do a good trade.
As some one has said, the death of these places and Transport Cafes has been the introduction of M&S and Tesco onto the garage forcourt…Good job aswell.
The last time i went inside a cafe (Kates Cabin at Peterboro) the place was dead, and it still took nearlly 45 mins for a Breakfast…I had to ask for it in the end…The Staff and General Hygine of the place leaves alot to be desired…
I now go to Tesco on Sunday afternoon and stock up for the week with what I want, then buy bits from M&S or Tesco during the week. Fortunately my Truck comes with a good fridge and Freezer(Volvo)
I take £20 cash with me and that will last 3 weeks!!!..
nedflanders:
Its no wonder with prices they charge
+1 , I’m surprised that they ain’t seen a name change to; Little THIEF prices & quality bordering highway robbery maybe the boss should start waring a mask like DickTurpin did
The one nearest to me closed down several years ago it’s now a curry house type place or was if that is still open, next to no parking their either , but i believe it was around 20years ago quite popular for the breakfasts, maybe back then they charged a realistic price and you got good quality food and good potion size too, It’s not good for those who will be out of a job, but i doubt very much that most of the outlets that will be closed will be missed
KW:
According to BBC news Little Chef are to close 67 of their 161 restaurants,surely an opportunity to revert some of them back into transport cafe’s?
As i have posted on other thread if you can cast your mind back a majority of little chefs were built on sites of transport cafes they bought and demolished,some of them good ones.
regards dave.
Quite so, but wasn’t there a bit of hoo’ha about the tarmac not being strong enough for lorries.
Coastways Cafe at Shiptonthorpe was a great cafe until the little chef came in.
an old boss of mine used to call them Little Fresh
but that said he always issued the Little Chef map to new reps
so they knew where the rendevous spot was
going to be late just ring the number on the map
i used one whilst on a night out maybe A3 or such like 8 at night place was empty
food ok a small beer bit pricey
but thats what night out money pays for
wildfire:
my daughter had her redundancey notice the week after christmas, a nice new year present for her, just don’t know which sites they are closing, now i have to ask the question? if they make her redundant and then don’t close the site and someone from another site that is closing comes in and takes over her postion is the company breaking the law? views would be appricated please so i can advise her
As far as I understand it people are not made redundant their positions are so if your daughter was let go and they got someone else in to do her job I would have thought she had a case for unfair dismissal
Have not been to one in years but I think even then breakfast was about a tenner. I suppose the didn’t want 1 truck driver who took up 10 car spaces.
As others have said there is much more choice now as most services and garages have tesco M&S etc and lots more mc donalds burger king etc which although not the best grub is reasonably priced.
It always seemed to me little chef and the services resteraunts were targeting holiday makers and day trippers who probally didn’t worry as much about prices as it wasn’t an everyday occerunce eating there.
had the misfortune to have to stop at one a few weeks back we was coming home from wifes mums and wife and baby wanted something to eat where they could sit down(I always suggest pubs as most do buy 1 meal get 2nd free or at least much cheaper) so we stopped at the little chef on the A14 near cambridge(I think it was)…staff was pretty arrogant and food was well there was big spaces on the plate where i think there should of been food…and they tried to chage us £42 for the privalage till i mentioned that we only had 2 meals and a childs meal which by my maths was £21 they had charged us twice for everything on the till!!! when i complained to the manager i was told the staff were new and it was christmas period…emailed once we got home along with the pics of the food which tasted of cardboard and was pretty crap and lo and behold got a total refund of the food and a letter of apology over staff being arrogant…
The old little chef near orwell bridge by the sheel garage(not the 1 that used to be at the truck stop on east bound carrageway which is now a great truckstop and serves good food with truck parking) the closed one by shell has been 3 or 4 diffrent places since last time it was open for 3 months then it was all boarded up again…
wildfire:
my daughter had her redundancey notice the week after christmas, a nice new year present for her, just don’t know which sites they are closing, now i have to ask the question? if they make her redundant and then don’t close the site and someone from another site that is closing comes in and takes over her postion is the company breaking the law? views would be appricated please so i can advise her
Tricky one, and I’m by no means a lawyer.
The position your daughter is in, has to be not available to anyone else, hence the redundancy. If your daughter is say a manager, and they make her redundant and bring someone else in with the same post, I’m sure that technically that is illegal.
ACAS will tell you the complexity of it all though if you ring them when she finds out.
thanks quinny and sammy i thought that was the general idea, that no one can take her place, she was a superviser, she was told because she did 8 hrs more than the other superviser she was chosen, just given some paper work telling her what she was going to get if they do carry out the redundancy, and told to go home for the month still getting paid, now my younger daughter works there as well part time just as a waitress and was offord extra work so just don’t quite make sence apart from she is on a lower wage
KW:
According to BBC news Little Chef are to close 67 of their 161 restaurants,surely an opportunity to revert some of them back into transport cafe’s?
As i have posted on other thread if you can cast your mind back a majority of little chefs were built on sites of transport cafes they bought and demolished,some of them good ones.
regards dave.
Quite so, but wasn’t there a bit of hoo’ha about the tarmac not being strong enough for lorries.
Coastways Cafe at Shiptonthorpe was a great cafe until the little chef came in.
As mentioned, great food, but a kings ransom.
That’s what I was meaning Malc,the ones that USED to be transport cafe’s until Little Chef took them over,like the old OK Cafe on the A12 at Kelvedon,that was a good cafe back in the 80’s where everyone used to stop on the way to Harwich/Felixstowe (good place for a dodgy night out too).
The car parks would have to be re-designed and strengthend,they’d have to hurry up though,before all the ■■■■■■ move in and strip the place.
Couldnt have happened to a nicer company…They took over what was left of the old transport cafes, then barred trucks from using them, so obviously the car drivers didnt use them enough, whereas the truckers would, through summer and winter…so im very pleased theyre going out of business, maybe they can be taken over by trucknet` and reverted back to their original use as cafes.
Trucknet Cafe…everyone welcome, free toast, and refills.
KW:
According to BBC news Little Chef are to close 67 of their 161 restaurants,surely an opportunity to revert some of them back into transport cafe’s?
truckyboy:
Couldnt have happened to a nicer company…They took over what was left of the old transport cafes, then barred trucks from using them, so obviously the car drivers didnt use them enough, whereas the truckers would, through summer and winter…so im very pleased theyre going out of business, maybe they can be taken over by trucknet` and reverted back to their original use as cafes.
Trucknet Cafe…everyone welcome, free toast, and refills.
Yeah…Imagine the scene…Why did he get more bacon than me? Why is the toilet dirty? What about the children? £3.95 For a full english? MMTM They are £2.95. (OTHER COMPLAINTS ARE AVAILABLE)
Spent a month working in the UK, several nights where spent at Travelodges with a Little Chef attached, possibly used different ones 5 times, always been the only person in them. Passing others on my way round, never see many cars in them. i thought they were a bit high in price for what you got.
truckyboy:
Couldnt have happened to a nicer company…They took over what was left of the old transport cafes, then barred trucks from using them, so obviously the car drivers didnt use them enough, whereas the truckers would, through summer and winter…so im very pleased theyre going out of business, maybe they can be taken over by trucknet` and reverted back to their original use as cafes.
Trucknet Cafe…everyone welcome, free toast, and refills.
Yeah…Imagine the scene…Why did he get more bacon than me? Why is the toilet dirty? What about the children? £3.95 For a full english? MMTM They are £2.95. (OTHER COMPLAINTS ARE AVAILABLE)
You forgot one…
HOW MUCH FOR A POT NOODLE?? FFS they’re only a quid at Tesco’s!
jessicas dad:
it would be alright if some of them changed into your average sandwich shop, good quality fresh cooked food and at a good fair price, stop get a sarnie then off again… or greggs took them over.
The old little chef on the A30 in Cornwall at the junction with the B3257 signed ‘Callington’ has been a Subway for a couple of years now.
It’s got an almost ideal location with space for maybe 10 or more trucks in the car park and a petrol station so they do a good trade.
It does get a bit bleak when the weather is crap.
that is a good one, and great fun playing chicken with the emmets when you try to get back on the NB A30
an annoying thing about little chefs was they would leave the roadside sign and the restaurant lit up at night even when they were CLOSED! many times riding my bike back from somewhere or other i would be freezing cold and see the sign and think they were open! mightyly peed off was i when i had stopped, got off the bike and headed for the door to find it SHUT!
drew128:
Spent a month working in the UK, several nights where spent at Travelodges with a Little Chef attached, possibly used different ones 5 times, always been the only person in them. Passing others on my way round, never see many cars in them. i thought they were a bit high in price for what you got.
