The Burford branch was a former Little Chef restaurant located on the A40 near Burford, Oxfordshire.
Address and Onsite Information[]
ADDRESS: A40 Lechlade Road, Burford, Oxfordshire, OX18 4JF
ONSITE FACILITIES: Starbucks, Travelodge (Book Room)
History[]
Some Little Chefs have stories to tell and Burford is certainly one of them. Positioned in the heart of Burford and dating back to many centuries ago, the site was originally home to the medieval manor of Burford which became part of the Bury Barns Complex at a later stage. It is said that Charles II visited the site during his lifetime and rumours have it that since his visit to the complex, the large, grand building on site became haunted with the sound of clanking horse harnesses being heard.
Between 1986 and 1988, the Bury Barns building provided the base for a Happy Eater restaurant. It was around this time that Forte, Little Chef's owners at the time, had acquired the Happy Eater chain and given the plentiful number of Little Chefs which existed in the area at the time, it made sense for Forte to increase the representation of their other brands. A Forte Travelodge was later added to the site.
In 1996/97, the Happy Eater at Burford was converted into a Little Chef, as part of Forte's programme to convert a majority of the Happy Eater portfolio into Little Chefs, as the latter was deemed the more profitable brand.
As mentioned previously, the site had experienced some disturbing paranormal activity and this was still evident in the Little Chef days. For example, there were many other disturbing sightings that were reported here including the sighting of a monk, the sound of singing and mild poltergeist phenomena.
Following the takeover by Euro Garages in 2017, Burford was one of a number sites which closed in January 2018 to be converted to a Starbucks store. The Starbucks opened on Friday 6 April 2018 and was Euro Garages' 103rd Starbucks store to open.
