Trewern Little Chef reprieve... for now

 

But the news isn’t so encouraging down the road where Newtown’s road side restaurant (pictured) was boarded up this morning (Thursday) with employees reportedly seeking alternative employment.

 

The restaurant chain has been present in the shire for more than 30 years and at the height of its business, would feed hundreds of motorists every day.

 

But the recession has hit the business hard, resulting in yesterday’s announcement that more than a third of its 161 sites would close.

 

A spokesperson told us on Wednesday: “The sites earmarked for closure have been trading unprofitably for a number of years due to a variety of economic and locational factors. We are not announcing which ones will go and cannot confirm that those two (Trewern and Newtown) will remain open. The actual ones to close will be revealed later on.”

 

But this morning, motorists drove past a boarded up Little Chef in Newtown, however, orders were still being taken at its site three miles west of Welshpool where staff have been told not to speak with the media, fuelling rumours that it could close at the end of the month.

 

Little Chef said up to 600 jobs will go but insists more than 1,500 will still be employed at the remaining restaurants.

 

Graham Sims, Chairman of Little Chef said: “When we acquired Little Chef four years ago we inherited a number of sites with leases that were uncompetitive. Despite very hard work from some very committed colleagues we have been unable to lift the performances of these sites to a level where they are viable. Consequently, following a thorough review in which we considered all the options it is with regret that we have had to close a number of sites.”