The Swavesey branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the eastbound side of the A14 near Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.
Address and Onsite Information[]
ADDRESS: A1307, Swavesey, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB24 4RE
ONSITE FACILITIES: Herbie's American Diner, Travelodge (Book Room)
History[]
Located a couple of miles east of Swavesey was the Lolworth Little Chef, which opened between 1968 and 1972 on a single carriageway section of what used to be the A604, a major route serving long distance traffic travelling between the Midlands and the ferry ports of Harwich and Felixstowe to the east. Being located on a single carriageway meant that Lolworth could serve both sides of the road. However, the section of the A604 between Cambridge and Huntingdon was later upgraded to dual carriageway, resulting in Lolworth no longer being able to serve eastbound traffic using the road. As a result of this upgrade and given the fact that Lolworth could now only serve westbound traffic, Forte opened a new Little Chef restaurant on the eastbound carriageway so that passing trade could still benefit from a Little Chef in the area. This restaurant was known as the Swavesey branch and opened in 1985/86 alongside a filling station at a small site located right next to the village of Swavesey. Initially, Forte wanted a dual sided site at Swavesey so that the pressure on Lolworth could be eased when it experienced busy periods. However, a new westbound Little Chef never materialised and instead, Lolworth became the westbound partner of Swavesey, creating a dual sided site but not the one that Forte wanted. Around 1989, it was joined by a Forte Travelodge so that tired travellers could turn in for the night.
The A604 was eventually re-numbered the A14 following the opening of the A14-M1-A1 link to the west.
In 2000, Extra built a large service station sporting a filling station, multiple restaurants and a hotel at the junction positioned right next to Swavesey Services. The opening of the new services meant that eastbound travellers on the A14 would reach Cambridge Services first, therefore Swavesey began to suffer and eventually, the decision was taken to close the filling station on site. The filling station became a hand car wash and the base for the Cambridge Clutch Centre. The Little Chef and Travelodge continued to soldier on.
Given the closure of the filling station, the competition of Cambridge services and the fact that Huntingdon Little Chef, a restaurant which also served eastbound traffic, was only located a couple of miles away to the west, Swavesey amazingly managed to escape the long list of closures between 2001 and 2007, showing that despite these factors, it still managed to do a decent trade. However, the restaurant was later seen as underperforming by owners, RCapital, and as a result, it unfortunately closed in the summer of 2010 alongside a handful of other sites, leaving Lolworth to soldier on alone, although this later closed in 2017 following the Euro Garages takeover.
Today, Swavesey trades on as an independent known as Herbie's American Diner.
