The Markfield branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located at Junction 22 of the M1 motorway, serving the A50/A511, near Leicester, Leicestershire.
Address and Onsite Information[]
ADDRESS: Little Shaw Lane, Markfield, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE67 9PP
ONSITE FACILITIES: Travelodge (Book Room)
LITTLE CHEF NOW: Derelict
For more information, visit Motorway Services Online.
History[]
Markfield Services was built by motorway services operator Granada in 1989 as part of their plans to conquer the A-roads with scaled-down motorway-style sites. Other sites included Blyth (A1), Colsterworth (A1), Musselburgh (A1), Saltash (A38), Warminster (A36) and their older site at Monmouth (A40). Each site had a Granada Country Kitchen restaurant, shop, small arcade area, lodge (with the exception of Monmouth South) and fuel forecourt. In the early 1990s, Granada replaced the restaurant at all A-road sites, with the exception of Blyth, with AJ's Family Restaurants, who it had done a deal with. This gave them a direct rival to Forte's Little Chef brand for the first time. In 1994, a Burger King was added alongside the AJ's.
Markfield was an unsual site on the basis that despite being located off a busy motorway junction on the M1, it never gained signage from the motorway. However, given its small size, it is questionable whether Granada ever intended it to be a proper motorway site, especially given that Leicester Forest East is located in close proximity. Given that this was the era of experimentation, it seemed feasible that Granada took the A50 to be a good enough source of traffic with some potential M1 overspill from those in the know.
When Granada acquired Little Chef and Travelodge in 1995, the AJ's restaurant and Granada Lodge hotel at Markfield were changed to those brands. Subsequent owner changes in around 2000 then saw Granada merge with Compass and demerge again, leaving Compass with the roadside portfolio. In 2002, Compass then passed Little Chef and Travelodge to Permira of Canada. However, Granada, by now called Moto, kept Little Chef and Travelodge at Markfield as part of a franchise agreement.
The Little Chef and retail shop at Markfield closed in 2008, with the restaurant being replaced with a Costa Coffee in 2009. The Costa closed by 2011, leaving a large empty space next to the Burger King unit. By this time the site had become quite run down and saw trade really dropping off. One potential reason for this may have been down to the construction of the new A50 dual carriageway further north in the late 1990s, meaning that less traffic and, crucially less long distance traffic, was now passing the site.
By 2012, Moto pulled out of the site and Euro Garages took it over, adding little more than a Coffee Nation machine to the main building. However, the decision was made by Euro Garages to close the main amenity building in 2014. This appeared to be a decision made at short notice, with posters and furniture still visible inside for a long time after. In 2020, the BP filling station closed, leaving the Travelodge hotel as the only remaining facility at the site.
A video of the derelict Markfield Services can be viewed on YouTube here.
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