The Rivenhall End North branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the northbound side of the A12 near Witham, Essex.
Address and Onsite Facilities[]
ADDRESS: A12 Northbound, Rivenhall End, Witham, Essex, CM8 3HB
ONSITE FACILITIES: V12 Sports and Classics Witham, Pulse and Cocktails Adult Superstore
History[]
Built in 1980, Rivenhall End Services was built as a dual sided site on the main London to Great Yarmouth route just north of Witham. Each side was home to a filling station and Little Chef restaurant, both of which were housed inside of identical buildings with the flat roof and large windows facing out onto the road. This was the usual Little Chef building design of the era.
However, change later came to the site around the mid 80s, when the restaurant was remodelled using the pitched roof, double front design. This was a new method introduced by the builders, which was done by building the new building around the old building and then demolishing the walls of the old building. This allowed Little Chef to utilise original features such as toilets, plumbing and ducting. Typically when Little Chef restaurants were remodelled in this era, they were usually done in order to modernise restaurants prior to the construction of Little Chef Lodge hotels. However, neither Rivenhall End North or South received a hotel.
Given its popularity, Rivenhall End North was one of many sites to receive a Coffee Stop in the early 90s, although this later closed.
Despite doing a decent trade, Rivenhall End North closed in 2007. This was due to Little Chef's owners at the time, The People's Restaurant Company, going into administration at this point and although new owners RCapital saved Little Chef, Rivenhall End North was one of a handful of sites that didn't transfer over and thus closed immediately. Its southbound partner continued to soldier on.
Soon after the closure of the Little Chef, it was converted into a café known as Holland's Coffee Lounge who were once accused of having a similar logo to the Harrod's shopping centre in London. Holland's Coffee Lounge continued to soldier on for a couple of years until 2011 when an American themed diner known as the 8 Ball Diner took over. However, this was very short lived and was gone by 2012. Furthermore, it was later re-opened as another American themed diner in 2016, known as the Empire Diner. However, this later closed and is now a Pulse and Cocktails Adult Superstore.
In July 2012, the Little Chef's presence ended at Rivenhall End as the southbound restaurant ceased trading at this point. Rivenhall End South closed when RCapital decided to close 67 Little Chef outlets in the country and has since become a Starbucks branch.
