The Barton-under-Needwood branch (also known as Burton North) was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the northbound side of the A38 near Burton on Trent, Staffordshire.
Address and Onsite Facilities[]
ADDRESS: A38 Northbound, Barton-under-Needwood, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire, DE13 8EG
ONSITE FACILITIES: Starbucks, Travelodge (Book Room)
History[]
Opened between 1982 and 1984, this represented Forte's desire to increase their presence of the Little Chef brand in the Central Midlands, with the A38 Birmingham to Mansfield corridor being their next focus. It was the second site to have opened on this section of the A38 and was built as a standalone site, housed inside of a building with a flat roof, although this later became a pitched roof, and large windows facing out onto the road.
Despite the first site at Gretna Green opening in 1976, the relaunched version of Little Chef Lodge saw its first site open at Barton Under Needwood in 1985, built as a single storey hotel. This later became a Travelodge around 1989, along with the rest of the Little Chef Lodge portfolio.
Located about half a mile north on the southbound side was the Burton branch of Happy Eater. This eventually became the Burton South branch of Little Chef around 1996/97, as part of Forte's plans to convert a majority of the Happy Eater estate into Little Chefs as the latter was deemed the more profitable brand. This created a dual sided Little Chef site.
Despite doing a good run, the Little Chef at Barton-under-Needwood, along with its southbound partner, closed in January 2012 as it was one of 67 branches deemed unprofitable by then owners, RCapital. The restaurant later became an independent known as Regales, although this later closed. Today it operates as a Starbucks complete with a drive thru.