The Wisley South branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the southbound side of the A3 near Wisley, Surrey.
Address and Onsite Information[]
ADDRESS: A3 Southbound, Wisley, Guildford, Surrey, GU23 6PT
ONSITE FACILITIES: BP, M&S Simply Food (forecourt), Wild Bean Cafe (forecourt), Starbucks
LITTLE CHEF NOW: Starbucks
For more information, visit Motorway Services Online
History[]
Wisley Services first opened as a dual sided service station in 1983, with each side comprising a filling station and Happy Eater restaurant, housed in identical buildings. The Happy Eaters were built to replace their branch at Send, which closed owing to a drop in trade following the opening of the A3 Wisley Bypass in 1976.
In 1986, Forte had acquired the Happy Eater brand and, by 1997, had converted a large majority of Happy Eater restaurants into Little Chefs. The Happy Eaters at Wisley became Little Chefs by 1996.
In the late 1990s, following Granada's acquisition of Little Chef, a Burger King was added to the Wisley South restaurant building. This however closed in the mid 2000s.
Following Little Chef's then owners, the People's Restaurant Group, suffering from financial difficulties, the Little Chef on the northbound side closed in January 2007. The building has since been converted into a Starbucks.
In 2008, the Little Chef at Wisley South featured in the first episode of Big Chef Takes on Little Chef, where Heston Blumenthal and his assistant chefs from the Fat Duck, Ashley Palmer-Watts and James 'Jocky' Petrie visited the branch for a cup of coffee.
In 2011, the Little Chef received the 'Wonderfully British' refurbishment along with nine other sites. 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 branded as Good to Go.
Following the takeover of the Little Chef brand by Euro Garages in 2017, the Little Chef at Wisley South ceased trading the same year. The building later reopened as a Starbucks.
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