Copyright cambridge-news
Many of us will have fond memories of stopping at a Little Chef to break up a long journey. The now-defunct chain of restaurants used to have branches across the country, with several buildings still standing today. While some have been repurposed, others have been entirely abandoned. One of those former Little Chef buildings which has seen better days is at the former Lolworth service station on the A14 westbound, which saw the final business there closed in 2019. The Little Chef at Lolworth was one of four built along the A14, formerly the A604, between Cambridge and Huntingdon. It opened in 1972, at a time when the road was still a single carriageway, meaning traffic coming from either direction was able to stop off at the restaurant. Little Chef initially opened in a converted transport café and bungalow, before it was later demolished and rebuilt. The petrol station was also rebuilt. After the road was made a dual carriageway, another service station opened at Swavesey to serve the eastbound carriageway. This meant there were fewer customers visiting Lolworth. A Little Chef Lodge hotel opened at Lolworth in 1986 and was rebranded as a Travelodge in 1989. The building also had a Little Chef Coffee Stop added in the early 90s to cater for customers passing by on the busy road. The petrol station witnessed a tragedy in November 1990 when a lorry veered off the A14, crashed through the forecourt and came to a halt in the shop. The accident resulted in the death of a customer inside the shop and sparked a fire that raged for two hours. The Coffee Stop was subsequently replaced by a Burger King, which shut its doors in the mid-2000s. The Little Chef at Lolworth also closed down in 2014 to make way for refurbishments that led to the reopening of the Burger King. However, both the Burger King and Little Chef permanently closed in 2017, reportedly due to plans to expand the A14 near Lolworth. The BP filling station followed suit, with the Travelodge shutting down in 2019. Currently, the former Little Chef building sits adjacent to the A14, awaiting its next chapter. It can still be seen as you drive past, appearing desolate and deserted.
