The Alwalton branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the southbound side of the A1 near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.
Address and Onsite Information
Address: A1 South, Alwalton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE7 3UG
Onsite Facilities: EG Diner, Burger King, Travelodge (Book Room)
History
Opened sometime between 1958 and 1965 alongside BP's night Owl filling station, the site was originally known as Peterborough with the name changed to Alwalton in the mid 1970s. In its heyday, Alwalton was something of a celebrity in Little Chef terms as it claimed to be the oldest Little Chef site to survive. However, eagle eyed spotters will realise that the restaurant building is in fact much newer, sporting the red brick, double-fronted house style of the mid 1980s to early 90s. This can probably be attributed to the various changes to the site over the years. The filling station closed in 1980/81 and a Little Chef Lodge, now Travelodge, was added in 1986/7 and it is thought that, due to the additional space and the planned lodge construction, the opportunity was taken to rebuild the restaurant at the same time. The adjacent Travelodge has the name of Peterborough Alwalton hotel.
Owing to its prime location beside the busy A1, Forte wasted no time in adding a Little Chef Coffee stop to the building in the early 90s while Granada, during their ownership of Little Chef, built an extension to it in the mid 90s to house a Burger King alongside the Little Chef. This closed in the mid 2000s but was resurrected in 2014 by new owners Kout Food Group.
Given how many Little Chef closures there have been in the last 10 years and how many empty former restaurants still litter the A1, management became concerned that people may think that the brand had gone altogether and just drive past Alwalton. Their answer was to amend the Little Chef roadside Totem to read "Little Chef is open and ready to serve you 7am to 10pm daily". This seemed to work as it managed to remain for a few more years until 2018 when Little Chef's journey came to an end.
Following the takeover by Euro Garages in 2017, Alwalton 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.
