The St Clears branch was a Little Chef restaurant located at the roundabout of the A40 and A477 near St Clears, Carmarthenshire.
Address and Onsite Information[]
ADDRESS: A40/A477 Roundabout, St Clears, Carmarthenshire, SA33 4JN
ONSITE FACILITIES: Starbucks, Travelodge (Book Room)
History[]
Opened in 1987/88, this was a new build site in Forte's house style of the era built in red brick with a low pitched roof. The Little Chef at St Clears was built at a clever site. For starters, it was built at a roundabout site, making the restaurant easily accessible and visible to all traffic. In addition to this, the roundabout did not only serve one major route, but two (the A40 and A477). These two routes were often used by holidaymakers and commuters travelling to the Welsh seaside towns of Pembroke and Fishguard to the west, thus the Little Chef made sense here as it had the ability to catch passing traffic with ease. Also, the Little Chef has easy access from the small town of St Clears via the A4066, thus locals could dine at the restaurant as well as travellers on the road. Furthermore, the Little Chef was built alongside a Travelodge hotel which catered for the weary traveller. Little Chef is known to be the number one breakfast choice for A-road Travelodge guests, therefore this meant that the Little Chef could benefit from even more custom, especially during the breakfast rush. It was a well planned site altogether.
Inside the Little Chef, there is a mismatch of styles. The bare brick walls date back to the 80s while the furniture is from the early 2000s. Certainly was a site with a bit of charm.
In March 2017, St Clears was one of a number of Little Chefs to close down following the Euro Garages takeover. It later reopened as a Starbucks.
