The Haydock branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the westbound side of the A580 near St Helens, Merseyside.
Address and Onsite Information[]
ADDRESS: A580 Westbound, Haydock, St Helens, Merseyside, WA11 0JZ
ONSITE FACILITIES: ASDA Filling Station, Travelodge (Book Room)
History[]
The Little Chef first opened in 1989/90 and was the third of the three sites to have opened on the A580 with the two other A580 branches (Astley and Knowsley) opening in the late 1960s. It opened alongside a filling station and was housed inside of the typical Little Chef house design of the era with the pitched roof, double front and red bricks. The Little Chef was also accompanied by a Travelodge in order to fully cater for the weary traveller
The Little Chef at Haydock proved to be one of the more successful Little Chef restaurants operating in the UK. Since its opening, Haydock fast became one of Little Chef's busiest sites. Also, the Little Chef has recieved a number of refurbishments and restaurant additions in the past.
Due to its prime location beside the busy A580, Forte wasted no time in adding a Little Chef Coffee Stop to the building in the early 90s while Granada, during their ownership of Little Chef, built an extension to it in the mid 90s to house a Burger King alongside the Little Chef. This closed in the mid 2000s but was happily resurrected in 2013 by new owners Kout Food Group.
The Little Chef then recieved the "New Choices" Makeover in 2002 giving it some smart new furniture and access to exciting menus from Harry Ramsdens, Upper Crust, Wiseguys Pizza and Caffe Ritazza. Nowadays it trades again as a standard Little Chef, but quite a smart one.
Along with the Little Chef at Astley, the exterior of the Haydock Little Chef appeared in the 2004 Peter Kay comedy, "Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere".
Following the takeover by Euro Garages in 2017, Haydock was one of a number sites converted to an EG Diner in January 2018. This is due to the expiration of Euro Garages' right to use the Little Chef brand name. However in May 2018, the EG Diner and Burger King at Haydock ceased trading, leaving the building empty. The building remained empty and with Burger King external signage on the building until September 2019 when the building was demolished and replaced with a Starbucks drive-thru.
