Recession Road: Ex-Little Chef, Wansford
This post is from our Recession Road series, part of our special report on the global downturn.
This former-pub-turned-Little Chef - near Wansford, Cambridgeshire - fell into disuse in 2007 and has since become a magnet for graffiti - some artistic, some inventive but too rude to print and some, well, a bit rubbish.
Built in 1932, the building opened as the Wansford Knight, part of a chain of roadhouses. A later attempt to give it listed status was declined because one of its curved metal-framed windows had been removed while it was a Little Chef.
Future use of the site has been the subject of much local debate.
You can see more photos of this building and other pictures from our trip on Flickr.
You can read an explanation of our Recession Road series here.
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This is a real shame. I drive past it weekly and always think 'I wish somebody would save it, it's beautiful.' The photograph gives little sense of the way the building is set above the road, giving it real presence. It has superb character, classic deco lines, and when it's clean it shines like the sails of a yacht.
I don't know who's responsible for it but they ought to know they have a jewel of modern architecture in their keep and should do everything possible to preserve it.
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I've travelled up and down the A1 for years. This was one of the worst Little Chefs in the country, no wonder it failed. We never used it after 2003. I agree, it's a lovely-looking building. Shame about the reason for not listing it--down here in Sevenoaks we have 17th.Century buildings with Jewson 1980's windows that have been listed!
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Phil (Paula)
What a sad thing for a once useful building that is not working productivly any more...
=Dennis Junior=
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It's the same with a couple of ex-Little Chefs on the A14 between Newmarket and Bury St. Edmunds. I'm not sure what the local council is going to do about them.
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Pardon me if I am wrong but, as a local, I'm not sure your research is correct here. I think this Little Chef closed 5 to 10 years ago, probably more like 15. I don't think it is a victim of the current recession. Maybe it "fell into disuse" in 2007, but that's a matter of opinion.
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I live in Peterborough and know this place has been closed a while, I have been trying to find out if this place is for sale but with not much luck as I would like to buy it and return it to a roadside dinner.
Can anyone help.
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According to the information I have, Little Chef's current owners had to close around 40 restaurants when they saved them from bankrupcy in 2007 and Wansford was one of the casualties.
I think the building is tremendous and the whole art-deco look would work really well with Little Chef's new modern-diner look that is being slowly rolled out post-Heston, which would do their marketing campaign no end of favours. With so much bland roadside architecture, it would make sense to keep a building as distinctive as this, especially one that has a genuine roadside-inn history. Journeys need landmarks for travellers old and young and landmarks definitely draw people in. Look at the Mecca that the Ace Cafe in London has become since re-opening. At Little Chef, I heard there is an aspiration to get back up to 200 sites from 177, and 4 closed restaurants have re-opened in the last year, so I have bugged them many times to ask if Wansford could be one of the next. It sounds as if it will be difficult as they no longer own the property, but I think it is a case worth fighting for. The building has so much potential and it would be sad to see it lost!
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