The Ashford branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located just off Junction 9 of the M20 near Ashford, Kent.
Address and Onsite Facilities[]
ADDRESS: Eureka Leisure Park, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN
ONSITE FACILITIES: Travelodge (Book Room), Eureka Leisure Park (Find Out More)
History[]
Built as part of the Eureka Leisure Park, the Little Chef at Ashford opened in 2000/01. Although not strictly a roadside location, the restaurant was just a stone's throw away from the M20 motorway, a major route connecting London with Folkestone, therefore the restaurant was certainly very likely to attract long distance traffic from the motorway. Furthermore, its location within a retail park, coupled with its proximity to the large town of Ashford, meant that the Little Chef could also bring in custom from the local area and those visiting the retail park.
Given the strong relationship between Little Chef and hotel chain, Travelodge, a Travelodge hotel also opened alongside the Little Chef. However, the Ashford restaurant was one of a kind as rather than the hotel and restaurant being situated in separate buildings, the Little Chef was placed in the bottom floor of the Travelodge hotel. This was a revelation for then owners Compass as it allowed them to incorporate a greater range of their brands into a standard sized site. Furthermore, customers who were staying overnight at the Travelodge wouldn't have to leave the building in order to walk across to the Little Chef as the entrance to the restaurant was situated within the hotel reception area. This design was further incorporated at some of the other Little Chef/Travelodge sites which opened in this era, including Peterborough Eye and Old Stratford.
When the Little Chef opened, it automatically received the Choices makeover, giving the restaurant some smart new furniture and access to exciting menus from Harry Ramsdens, Upper Crust, Wiseguys Pizza and Caffe Ritazza. However, the menus were later removed and it continued to trade on as a standard Little Chef.
Despite the restaurant working in great collaboration with the Travelodge, it was obvious that due to competition from the other restaurants situated on the retail park that the Little Chef wasn't to last. Furthermore in 2004, the relationship between Travelodge and Little Chef came to an end when new owners, Permira, were keen to keep Travelodge but sell on Little Chef. Consequently, the Ashford site closed by 2005 and the former restaurant space was removed by Travelodge.