The Grantham North branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located at the Grantham North Service Station on the A1 near Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire.
Address and Onsite Facilities[]
ADDRESS: Moto Hospitality, Great Gonerby, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG32 2AB
ONSITE FACILITIES: BP, Burger King, Costa Coffee, WHSmith, Travelodge
History[]
The services first opened in the late 1970s under the name of Grantham Services by Trusthouse Forte on what used to be the Gonerby roundabout. Roundabout sites were great for service stations as they provided easy access to all routes and were easily spotable too. The site was branded as Motor Chef as this was the branding that Forte used on their MSAs and large TRSAs like Grantham.
Forte, when the services opened, brought in their brands of The Granary, Little Chef (which didn't open until between 1980 and 1982), a Forte shop and some sort of fuelcourt. Motor Chef branding was used on the site up until 1982. At this point, it became Trusthouse Forte branded and then Welcome Break in 1985/86 when they purchased the four Welcome Break MSAs and Happy Eater and thus decided to roll out Welcome Break at their MSAs and TRSAs. A lodge was built at the site too, branded as Travelodge/Welcome Lodge
In 1996, the services were taken over by Granada who replaced the Granary with Burger King but kept Little Chef at the services. In 1998, Granada built a TRSA at Colsterworth, located just south of Grantham and in order to avoid confusion between the two sites, Grantham was known as Grantham North and Colsterworth was sometimes known as Grantham South.
In 2007, the roundabout was replaced with a grade separated junction as was the case with many other roundabouts along the A1. Where the services used to be accessed via the roundabout, it is now accessed via the B1174 or the southbound on slip road of the A1.
In 2008, the Little Chef closed and was replaced with Costa Coffee. However, the Costa Coffee was later moved to another outlet in the services, leaving the ex Little Chef Costa outlet empty. The unit is now hidden at the back of the building, behind Greggs and Costa.
