The Newbury (MK2) branch (known as Tot Hill) was a Little Chef restaurant located at Tot Hill Services on the A34 near Newbury, Berkshire.
Address and Onsite Facilities[]
ADDRESS: Tot Hill Services, A34 Newbury Bypass, Newbury, Berkshire, RG20 9BX
ONSITE FACILITIES: Shell, Select (forecourt), Costa Express (forecourt), Starbucks, McDonald's, Travelodge (Book Room)
For more information, visit Motorway Services Online
History[]
Opened in 1999/00, the Little Chef replaced a former branch in Newbury town centre, which closed by 1994. The closure of the town centre restaurant occurred prior to the construction of the Newbury Bypass, which would see the old A34 through Newbury town centre rerouted to the west as a high standard dual carriageway. The bypass opened to traffic in 1998, including a new service station which opened on the southern end.
Prior to the construction of the bypass, the original plans for the services comprised of a filling station, McDonald's, OK Diner and Holiday Inn Express; however, these plans were later revised. Whereas the McDonald's and filling station opened as planned, the OK Diner and Holiday Inn Express were scrapped in favour of Little Chef and Travelodge, a combination which made more sense given their huge existing presence up and down Britain's A-roads.
In 2002, a majority of existing Little Chefs across the country received the Choices makeover, which comprised of new furniture and access to menus from other brands such as Harry Ramsdens, Caffe Ritazza and Wiseguys Pizza. Whilst Newbury wasn't exclusively a Choices branch, it did incorporate the new furniture and access to the Harry Ramsdens menu in 2003, although this menu was later removed.
Despite having obvious competition from the adjacent McDonald's, the Little Chef at Newbury was nonetheless a busy site. Its accessibility to all traffic via a grade separated junction, coupled with its convenience for guests staying in the Travelodge were surely all contributing factors. It even outranked some of the larger Little Chef sites on the A34, including Oxford Peartree and Sutton Scotney.
However in 2017, Euro Garages took over Little Chef from Kout Food Group and intended to replace all 70 restaurants with grab and go options such as Starbucks, Subway and Greggs. The Little Chef closed its doors in July 2017 and was soon converted into a Starbucks.
