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The Astley branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the westbound side of the A580 between Manchester and Liverpool near Astley, Greater Manchester.

Address and Onsite Facilities[]

ADDRESS: A580 Westbound, Astley, Leigh, Greater Manchester, M29 7HX

ONSITE FACILITIES: BP, Londis (forecourt), Costa Express (forecourt), Zest Indian Restaurant

History[]

Following the establishment of the Little Chef chain in 1958, Trusthouses, who acquired the company in 1960, were keen to start opening up branches all over the country and one of the sites which they chose was Astley. The restaurant opened alongside a filling station on the main East Lancashire Road. Since its opening in 1934, the A580 connecting Liverpool and Manchester had the reputation of being the main route for motorists travelling between these two major cities, therefore a Little Chef on this route made sense and was certainly a no-brainer for Trusthouses.

Originally, the Little Chef was housed inside of a small, flat roofed building. However, in 1988/89, Forte decided to modernise and enlarge the small Little Chef by building a completely new restaurant building. The new building had the pitched roof, double front and red bricks; the Little Chef building design of the mid 80s to early 90s era. In the early 90s, Forte saw that the Astley Little Chef was one of the more busier sites and decided to add a Little Chef Coffee Stop alongside the restaurant. The Coffee Stop was later replaced by a Burger King in the Granada era but this later closed. 

The front of Astley Little Chef featured in an episode of the Peter Kay show "Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere" in 2004. 

The Little Chef at Astley closed in 2010 and has since been operating as an independent known as Zest which is an Indian restaurant. Up until closure, Astley was believed to have been the second oldest Little Chef trading on Britain's road network. 

 

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