The Barnsdale Bar South branch was a Little Chef restaurant located on the A1 near Kirk Smeaton, North Yorkshire.
Address and Onsite Facilities[]
ADDRESS: A1 Southbound, Kirk Smeaton, Pontefract, North Yorkshire, WF8 3JF
ONSITE FACILITIES: Shell, Select (forecourt), Deli by Shell (forecourt), Costa Express (forecourt)
For more information, visit Motorway Services Online
History[]
The site was built in the 1960s by the Forte group as a proper service area under their Autogrill brand. This was essentially a scaled-down version of their motorway service station sites designed for the A-roads, with Oxford Peartree opening at the same time in the exact same style (If you look at both from above they have the exact same red roof). The site originally had the entrance facing the road and contained a large restaurant and shop. There were no northbound facilities, just a car park with a linking footbridge to take people across to the southbound building. An American-style "Travelodge Motel" was later added too with a bar called the "Barnsdale Bar" inside it. Over the years the main services building traded under many names, but all under Forte ownership, including Forte, Autogrill, Motorchef, Trusthouse Forte and briefly Welcome Break, Restaurant options grew to take in Forte's "The Granary" brand and there was even a carvery option alongside it at one point.
Forte even produced postcards of the southbound services so that families can send them off as well as the restaurant being recognised by many people.
Little Chef first arrived at Barnsdale Bar in 1980/81 (the same time as other A-road TRSAs at Grantham and Peartree), when the decision was taken to build facilities on the northbound side of the road, both to attract more northbound custom and to offer another restaurant option. Southbound continued to trade with its Granary and carvery options. However, by 1988/89, the decision was taken to alter the southbound offering, with Little Chef brought in as the main restaurant option and the main entrance moved to face the car park instead. In the early 90s, a Little Chef Coffee Stop was added, later becoming a Burger King when Granada took control of Little Chef.
The footbridge also disappeared, although it is unclear exactly when, and the 1980s saw the old Travelodge demolished and replaced with the "Forte Travelodge" building of the era.
In 2004, both Barnsdale Bar sites closed (under Permira ownership), only to be re-opened in 2005 by Little Chef's new owners People's Restaurant Group (PRG). On re-opening, the Travelodge became "Days Inn", symbolising the breakup of Little Chef and Travelodge. PRG then set about adding Coffee Tempo! to the Little Chef and BK offering on the southbound side in 2006/7 and the site continued to trade as a large Little Chef site.
In 2012, Little Chef Express replaced Coffee Tempo! at a time when then owners RCapital had decided to close 67 branches. This seemed positive for Barnsdale Bar as it reinforced their commitment to the site. Thus it was a complete shock when, in September 2012, more surprise closures were announced and these included both Barnsdale Bar North and South. Little Chef's IT Department moved to the building, but didn't stay long. So there ended a long association with Little Chef and it's various parent companies at the site.
In its later years, the Days Inn became a branch of Metro Inns, a small chain which had acquired a small handful of former Travelodge sites on the roadside (including Mirfield and Liphook North). Its most recent tenure was Southside Lodge; however this closed by 2019 and has remained vacant ever since.
Following the closure of the Little Chef, the restaurant then played host to DD's services, an independent cafe which generally received favourable reviews on TripAdvisor. However, this closed by 2019 and the building was left abandoned, falling into considerable disrepair over the years.
In January 2019, 23.5 Degrees planned to build a Starbucks Drive Thru in the former hotel carpark, but the plans were refused in December 2019. The plans were submitted again, but the former restaurant building will be demolished with a McDonald's Drive Thru and 2 units (planned to be Greggs and Subway) built as well as the Starbucks, which will also include 6 EV points. Highways England have postponed the plans until more information is provided.
In 2023, the main building was finally demolished, most likely in preparation for the proposed fast food units. However, the hotel building still remains, although it is currently unknown what its future holds.