The Attleborough North branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the northbound side of the A11 near Attleborough, Norfolk.
Address and Onsite Facilities[]
ADDRESS: A11 Northbound, Attleborough, Norfolk, NR17 2PU
ONSITE FACILITIES: Shell, Select (forecourt), Deli by Shell (forecourt), Costa Express (forecourt), Route 11 Kitchen
For more information, visit Motorway Services Online
History[]
The site was first built between 1986 and 1988 by Forte and sported a Happy Eater restaurant and filling station. Given that the main London to Norwich route was already dominated with a handful of Little Chefs by the mid 80s, it made sense for Forte to increase the representation of their other brands by expanding their Happy Eater chain, thus resulting in a restaurant at Attleborough opening.
By the mid 90s, Forte, who acquired Happy Eater in 1986, decided that it was going to phase out the Happy Eater brand and replace it with the more profitable Little Chef brand which they also owned. Attleborough North was one of the sites to receive the treatment and transformed from Happy Eater to Little Chef in 1996/97. In doing so, it then became one half of a Little Chef double, complimenting the existing Little Chef at Attleborough South, just opposite on the southbound A11.
In the mid 90s, Granada acquired the Little Chef chain and at some of their existing Little Chef sites, they added Burger King outlets alongside them in order to provide travellers with a fast food option. Attleborough North was one of the sites to receive a Burger King, although it later closed in the mid 2000s.
In 2007, Little Chefs parents, who by now were People's Restaurant Group, hit financial problems and the brand was taken by new owners, venture capitalists RCapital. Not all the sites transferred over and Attleborough was one of a handful of sites to be closed in 2007.
Having stood empty for a number of years, the restaurant was later converted into the Route 11 Kitchen in 2016.