The Capel St Mary South branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the southbound side of the A12 near Capel St Mary, Suffolk.
Address and Onsite Facilities[]
ADDRESS: A12 Southbound, Capel St Mary, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2JJ
ONSITE FACILITIES: BP, Spar (forecourt), Costa Express (forecourt), Rollover (forecourt), Starbucks, Travelodge (Book Room).
For more information, visit Motorway Services Online
History[]
By the mid 80s, the London to Colchester section of the A12 was already home to a small handful of Little Chef sites, including the dual sided Rivenhall End site. However, given the increasing popularity of the route with long distance traffic and holidaymakers, coupled with the lack of existing restaurants to the north of Colchester, Forte reacted by increasing Little Chef's presence on the Colchester to Ipswich section of the route and as a result, opened up a dual sided site near Capel St Mary around 1985/86. Both restaurants were built alongside filling stations, with southbound later receiving the bonus of a Travelodge. and were both housed inside of identical buildings with the pitched roof, double front design. The use of this building design at Capel St Mary North and South marked the first of a new restaurant house design for Little Chef as it would later be the blueprint for restaurants opening in the late 80s/90s.
Located immediately to the south of the dual sided Little Chef site was an existing Happy Eater restaurant, providing competition for the Little Chefs, despite being operated by the same company. The Happy Eater was later replaced with a Little Chef in 1996/97, however; given its close proximity to the dual sided restaurants it closed by 2001, allowing for then owners, Granada, who took over from Forte in the mid 90s, to focus on their more profitable sites just north.
In 2012, Little Chef's then owners R Capital announced a cull of 67 underperforming branches and this list included northbound partner, Capel St Mary North, which closed in January of that year. It wasn't long afterwards until Capel St Mary South Little Chef ceased trading as well, closing its doors in July 2012 and marking the end of Little Chef's presence in the area.
Today, Capel St Mary South operates as a Starbucks.