The Arnold branch was a former Little Chef located on the A60 near Arnold, Nottinghamshire
Address and Onsite Facilities[]
ADDRESS: A60 Mansfield Road, Arnold, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG5 8PG
ONSITE FACILITIES: Esso, Hursts (forecourt), Costa Express (forecourt), The Banyan Tree
History[]
The Little Chef at Arnold opened between 1980 and 1982 alongside the existing Hawker's Garage, which dates back to around the 1940s. Despite the Little Chef being a new build, with the restaurant housed in Forte's typical building design of the era with the flat roof and large windows facing out onto the road, a cafe did exist at the site prior to Little Chef's existence. It it unknown when this cafe closed but it is possible that if it had indeed survived up until Little Chef's takeover, it was either converted by Forte into a Little Chef as part of their nationwide expansion, with the existing building heavily remodelled, or the cafe was demolished and the Little Chef was built from scratch. In this case, the latter would've seemed more likely, given the building style was a common design for Little Chefs opening in this era.
Despite the A60 being an important route, linking Loughborough to Doncaster, Arnold was one of only two Little Chefs to have traded on this road, with Worksop being the second.
Despite a good run and a decent location, in 2004 then owners Permira put 131 Little Chefs up for sale, with quieter sites and those without a lodge facility deemed to be the most vulnerable. Arnold was one of the branches to close and it ceased trading in February 2005. Today it trades as a restaurant under the name of the Banyan Tree, who heavily extended and remodelled the existing building, leaving very little traces of its past behind.