The Shrewsbury branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located at the junction of the A5 and A49 in the village of Bayston Hill near Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
Address and Onsite Information
ADDRESS: Bayston Hill Services, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 0DA
ONSITE FACILITIES: Esso, Spar (forecourt), Starbucks on the Go (forecourt), Greggs (forecourt), Subway (forecourt), Burger King, Starbucks Drive Thru, Travelodge (Book Room)
History
In 1994, Little Chef were planning to open a Little Chef at Battlefield services. However, the plans were later scrapped when they instead decided to open a site to the south of Shrewsbury in Bayston Hill. Therefore, the Bayston Hill branch opened in 1995. The branch would later become known as Shrewsbury. In the end, the decision to build at Bayston Hill rather than Battlefield proved to be a good one with Shrewsbury becoming one of Little Chef's most successful sites.
The branch was built alongside a filling station and lodge, giving it the perfect combination of facilities. Shrewsbury was deliberately built larger than most other sites so that it could easily house both a Little Chef and a Burger King. In 2006, a Coffee Tempo! outlet also joined the Little Chef but was removed during the 2011 refurbishment.
In 2011, Shrewsbury was one of the 10 sites to receive the "Wonderfully British" refurbishment. Wonderfully British was the follow-on, slightly tweaked version of the "Hestonised" site with slightly different interior finishes, new branding (Charlie lost his tray and instead had his arms open to welcome visitors) and Little Chef's new "grab and go" take-away option known as Good to Go. Unlike some other sites, Shrewsbury kept its Burger King as well which still trades alongside the main restaurant today.
In recent years, Euro Garages have taken over the petrol station and added both Subway and Starbucks to the services.
Following the takeover by Euro Garages in 2017, Shrewsbury 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. These sites are likely to be re-branded as another brand at a later date.
In October 2018, all remaining EG Diners closed down including the branch at Shrewsbury.
