At long last, a better style of motorway cuisine is offering weary
British drivers food worth stopping for. Or even making a detour…
Words by Dominic Prince.
Photographs by Cristian Barnett
While few people lost sleep over the near-demise of the 200 or so Little Chef branches in January this year,
news of the company's financial woes did highlight the one area of British cuisine that has remained almost
untouched by the much-vaunted food revolution that has taken place in the past ten years. Stop at a motorway service
station and the choice is not only pretty limited, but it's also unlikely to be much good for your bank balance or
your health.
My experiences of Little Chefs over the years haven't been great. I've had omelettes that taste as if they're
made from powdered eggs and Danish bacon that oozed thick, gelatinous white liquid. The eggs are now free-range and
the sausages made from outdoor-reared pork – but the bacon seems the same.
How different it is in much of Europe. Italy, Spain and France all enjoy delectable roadside cuisine in
independent restaurants dotted along the highways – think warm ham and Mozzarella panini; local seafood paella;
partridge casserole with warm French bread; and all those coffees on offer.
But all is not lost for us. A growing band of enthusiasts is transforming Britain's highways and byways with
locally grown, decent food. And
they're making a success of it – financial debacles need not be the norm.The idea that roadside eateries are a
hand-to-mouth venture is not quite true
(an old friend of mine once ran a café in a layby on the A354; he would take his family for six-week holidays
in the Caribbean).
Some of these transport cafés are located in former Little Chef premises that were sold off as
uneconomical; others are run from roadside caravans; another takes up space either side of the M6 in Cumbria. What
they all have in common are owners and staff who really care about what goes on the plates or in the takeaway bags.
These people have passion. And with a bit of luck, that passion will trigger a revolution in roadside eating – and
we'll all benefit.
A82 on the outskirts of Tyndrum, Perthshire
The Real Food Café
Tel 01838 400235; therealfoodcafe.com
Sarah Heward-Wolsey used to be managing director of London wine bar and restaurant chain, Corney & Barrow, but
wanted a life change. In 2004, she and her husband bought a former Little Chef, above, on the highland road that
runs from Glasgow to Fort William. With two million people a year passing the door, it seemed a pretty good bet. It
hasn't all been plain sailing (Sarah had to cope with the death of her husband) but she's done brilliantly.
'The first thing I realised was that the Little Chef we bought was universally despised. But paradoxically, that
helped us – we could only do better,' says Sarah. She sources local produce, squeezes fresh juices and serves
Fairtrade coffee. She sells three tonnes of chips each week and 500 locally made ice cream cones a day in the
summer. Sarah welcomes hikers, lorry drivers, dukes and duchesses for traditional roadside-style grub that's better
than any you've ever tasted.
A5 between Druid and Corwen, Denbighshire
Rhug Estate café
Tel 01490 413000; rhug.co.uk
Philip Hughes, estate manager on the 12,000-acre Rhug estate in north Wales, started a roadside takeaway to solve a
problem. 'We've got a thriving organic farm shop but we didn't know what to do with all the shoulder meat, so we
processed it into organic beefburgers and sausages and started the takeaway,' he says.
Dishes include homemade Aberdeen Angus hotpot, a warming vegetable stew, above left, and organic bacon and egg
rolls. Philip reckons to serve 150,000 hungry travellers a year and the café has become quite the
'destination dining spot'. On the main Liverpool-to-Fishguard road, the van plays host to tradesmen, estate workers
such as the shepherd, right, and people en route to the ferry. To see lorry drivers, scaffolders and plumbers – not
to mention men in plus-fours returning from a shoot, opposite – all tucking into organic burgers is to witness how
decent food on the road can bring different worlds together.
A303 on the edge of West Knoyle, Wiltshire
Willoughby Hedge Café
Tel 01747 830803
The Willoughby Hedge Café is something of an institution among drivers and holidaymakers (as well as the
occasional classic bus owner, right); it's a good old-fashioned roadside café.
'Ninety five per cent of my customers are repeat business,' says Dave Thomas, a former regional director for Little
Chef, who left in 1980 to start his own enterprise. The café, above, is actually just a Portakabin on the
A303 but is hugely popular. 'We get everybody, every class: the good, the bad and the ugly. But that's the glory,
the attraction of the job – you see the world here. Norman Tebbit and Gary Glitter both used to turn up and tuck
in.'
Dave has a 'buy local' policy, which means a good strong brew using tea from Mr Miles, a blender from nearby
Somerset. At the height of the summer season, Dave will serve 1,000 cuppas a day, as well as copious egg and bacon
rolls and full English breakfasts, complete with black and white puddings.
M6 between junctions 37 and 38, Cumbria
Tebay Services
Tel 01539 624511; westmorland.com
Wild-boar sausages, handmade cheeses and rich dumpling stews, top, are not the usual fare offered at Britain's vast
network of motorway service stations. But in the northern reaches of the M6, salvation is at hand. The Tebay service
station is a stop-off like no other. It is not part of a huge multiple chain but family-owned and independent,
selling the best local produce in its farm shop, far left.
'We do sell burgers – but we sell our own and we know where everything comes from,' says John Dunning, the
proprietor. 'If you come for a burger at my service station I can tell you the name of the cow that went into it.
Not many can say that, now, can they?'
One customer, the warmly dressed Martin Kevill, is such a devotee of the food at Tebay Services that he drives a
70-mile round trip every day just to eat two cream cakes – few restaurants, let alone roadside cafés, can
claim that sort of honour.
A12 on the edge of Marlesford, Suffolk
Farm Café
Tel 01728 747717; farmcafe.co.uk
As you'd expect from a former East End pub landlord, Paul Thomas is a great big fellow with whom you probably
wouldn't start an argument at throwing-out time. He started his venture in 2000 and it was a disaster for two years;
now it's thriving.
'This was originally a petrol station and people just didn't know about us. Then I had a eureka moment, sent out a
£3 discount voucher to everyone on the local electoral roll and we've never looked back,' says Paul. Everything in
his café and farm shop is bought locally, from kippers to ketchup. Newspapers, cappuccinos and a roaring wood
burner make the place welcoming for all – from Pippa, the contented resident dog, to Henry, celebrating his
grandmother's birthday. Corned beef hash, partridge casserole and stuffed breast of lamb are on offer. 'If you start
with really good ingredients it's difficult to go wrong,' says Paul. How right he is.
What are your experiences of roadside dining in the UK? Do you think there's room for improvement? Email food@johnbrowngroup.co.uk