The Hailsham branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the A22 in Hailsham, East Sussex
Address and Onsite Information[]
ADDRESS: London Road, Golden Cross, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 4AH
ONSITE FACILITIES: None
LITTLE CHEF NOW: Empty
History[]
The restaurant started out as two different restaurants, known as The Country Fox and The Old Orchard, before becoming the Golden Cross branch of Happy Eater in the 1980s. The restaurant operated as a standalone site on the A22 to the northwest of Hailsham.
Located within a mile to the southeast of the Happy Eater was the Lower Dicker branch of Little Chef, which existed long before the Happy Eater. Although the close proximity of the two restaurants essentially created competition between the two brands, they were both owned by the same company following Forte's acquisition of Happy Eater in 1986 and, as such, the competition was considered to be of a pretend nature.
Change would occur in the 1990s when the decision was made to open a Happy Eater restaurant at the Boship Roundabout, located just two miles to the southeast of Golden Cross, in 1990. With two Happy Eater restaurants now in close proximity of each other, and on the basis that the new restaurant at the Boship Roundabout was a much larger site complete with a filling station and Travelodge hotel, the restaurant at Golden Cross closed and was replaced with a Little Chef in 1991. The opening of the Little Chef at Golden Cross resulted in the demise of the Lower Dicker branch, which closed at the end of 1990.
In 1996, the Happy Eater at the Boship Roundabout became a Little Chef, resulting in two Little Chefs now in close proximity of each other once again. Despite there being two Little Chefs located within two miles of each other, the Hailsham restaurant would surprisingly trade on for another four years before finally closing its doors in 2000.
Following the closure of the restaurant, the building would then play host to a vehicle business known as Connaught Commercials. This traded until the early 2020s, with the building now standing empty.
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