The Perth TRSA or Broxden branch was a planned Little Chef in 2001, just off the Broxden Roundabout, Perth, which never opened.
Plans for a Trunk Road Service Area (TRSA) at the Broxden Roundabout at Perth first came to light in the early 1990s. These were put forward by Esso and subsequently knocked back by planners. However, by the end of the 90s, permission was finally granted and Esso got the ball rolling by building their filling station. Although billed as a service area, Broxden was more of a collection of facilities leading off a link road. McDonalds also had a site there, which was the next to open and, in 2000, signage went up boasting that the next addition would be a Little Chef and Travelodge, due to open in 2001.
This was to be a new design and, unlike other sites, the Little chef and Travelodge would actually be housed in the same building, with the Little Chef housed in the bottom right hand corner of the Travelodge.
However, 2001 came and went and still construction had not finished. Worse still the branch had not appeared as "Opening soon" in any of the Little Chef guide leaflets. Finally, it appeared in a 2003 leaflet, confusingly called Perth TRSA and not Broxden, the actual name of the site, as "Opening soon". However, although the Travelodge opened, but the Little Chef never did.
So what went wrong? Well there are two possible theories.
Firstly, right next door, Whitbread had got their hands on a plot and had started construction on a Brewers Fayre (now a Harvester). So not only would there be competition from McDonalds but from a second restaurant which, arguably, was more similar to Little Chef's format.
Secondly, at the time the restaurant was planned, Little Chef was under the control of Compass Catering. However, whilst Broxden was being constructed, both Little Chef and Travelodge changed hands and were sold to Permira. Perhaps they had other ideas about what to do with the site? Evidence of this came in 2004 when Permira sold Little Chef but kept Travelodge, breaking the two brands up for the first time since 1989. If this had been their intention all along then perhaps having Little Chef and Travelodge under the same roof, effectively under different owners, would have been too complex.
Today, the Little Chef's space is used as conference rooms for the Travelodge.
Perth TRSA or Broxden Little Chef was planned after the traditional Forte numbering system was discontinued so 570 is an estimated number.
In 2022, the Esso filling station ceased trading and was replaced by a BP. At that time, the Travelodge, McDonald's & Harvester continued to trade on.