Great British Road Journeys - Suffolk - Newmarket to Stowmarket Ep.3

#driving #infrastructure #cars #roadtrip #suffolk
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In this video I visit Suffolk, a county a bit like Norfolk. Travelling as best we can along older 1920s routes, I go from Newmarket to Stowmarket. Along the way there are horses, abandoned roads and little chefs... who remembers those!?
Using a copy of the 1923 Michelin Guide, I'll be travelling the country to see what remains and what's changed since it's publication. The guide offers suggestions on thing to see and where to stay all with the goal of getting you out there and exploring in your motor vehicle.

[@garyneilson1833]

For those of us old enough to remember, the turkey that came from that site was "bootiful"

[@paulcurren2151]

Apparently, Mr. Mathews' favourite tag line was "Norfolk n Good."

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Thank you for confirming my suspicions. I wonder why our host felt the need to ignore this piece of information of national importance and instead concentrate on a somewhat less noteworthy family run garage? Addendum. From subsequent comments, there was a bit of a muddle. Thank you chaps for your clarification. This also explains why himself _didn't_ mention the turkey tycoon. Order has been restored!

[@medler2110]

Isn't the Turkey site Great Witchingham Hall in Norfolk, which is also now due for closure and is now owned by the same company who owned Haughley Park before it was closed and seemingly own almost all the poultry production sites in the UK?

[@aaronhall5796]

Yeah Bernard Matthews is based at Great Witchingham just outside of Norwich. Similar looking building

[@john07973]

​@@medler2110 that "same company" sail very close to the wind

[@dilwyn1]

Great job John ... Maybe a series on abandoned "Little Chefs" should be on the cards. Many memories of hours of waiting for your cold egg and chips to be thrown at you by an unenthusiastic over maydup waitress who treated you as a nuisance and not her wages provider

[@TheChiefSmeg69]

Got to admit, this is a good idea. We had a ‘Little Thief’ and ‘unHappy Eater’ virtually opposite each other at the end of the M62 where it becomes the A63. The chef closed down not so many years ago and lies abandoned. The Eater is now an adult shop

[@Camberwell86]

Kids chicken nuggets while the adults are blowing 200 Bensons in your face 😅 good old days

[@user-ly9pf8dk1d]

I had a crap in an abandoned Little Chef toilet about 30 years ago

[@ianphil397]

@@user-ly9pf8dk1d nice.

[@Bob_Burton]

I always had the impression that most Little Chef staff were specially trained to ignore you for as long as possible after you sat down. I used the 2 Little Chefs, one each side of the A14 at Kentford, several times. The staff in them were not too bad as they were very small branches. On one occasion I went into the one on the Eastbound side of the road during a Bank holiday weekend and they ran out of eggs so they 'phoned to the branch on the Westbound side and someone crossed the busy A14 with a tray of eggs. Because the building is in a dip I did not get to see them do it but it must have been hazardous to say the least

[@cullercoatswebsite]

I agree that a series of abandoned little chefs would be awesome. I'm old enough to remember them when they were the go-to place when on the road. Really enjoy these episodes pure joy .

[@davecooper3238]

As motorcyclists many of use used to carry ‘A Little Chef map of the known universe.’ Using Little Chef as meeting points when travelling around the country.

[@paulketchupwitheverything767]

There used to be a whole network of independent transport cafés on Britain's trunk roads before the motorways were built. Here and there I see a 1930s building with a big lay-by/car park that looks like it used to be one. I wonder how many are still in business. The Riverside Café on the A4 Colnbrook By Pass to the west of London is one of the few I can think of.

[@davecooper3238]

@@paulketchupwitheverything767 I only know of one that’s left from the 60s and my café racer days. It’s on the A5 opposite what used to be the Rugby Radio Station.

[@MadMax76er]

That Little Chef is situated next to what be one of the grimmest Travelodges I've ever been to

[@benjaminsmith3625]

Sunday wouldn't be the same without a new episode of 'Secrets of Abandoned Little Chefs' 😆

[@brianartillery]

That Little Chef at Kentford has fond memories for me. It's where I saw once, and only once, the real person that my late father was. We had been to the Shuttleworth Collection, and IWM Duxford, seen planes flying at both, and dad was happy. He was a lovely bloke, but a bit taciturn - a man of few words, who gave nothing away. He did lark about with my brother and me as kids, but generally he was a closed book. But that day, he pulled into that Little Chef without warning, and said: "I fancy cherry pancakes with ice-cream, and I'm going no further until I do." Now, he never usually ate stuff like that, but that day, that's what we had, and it was damn good, too. As I paid, he tapped me on the shoulder, and said, with a big grin on his face: "Don't tell your mother." I never did. Seeing that place in manky condition like that, makes me rather sad. Likewise, the Stowmarket Little Chef, but for a different reason. I was going to Woolpit to do a night security job. I used to go on my old 125 Suzuki. However, on this night, as I came up the hill out of Stow on the A14, my engine blew up. Lovely. All the bits missed my legs, but I still dropped the thing doing about 30 mph, and we both ended up on the wet grass on the side of the road. A bit shell shocked by this, I picked up the smoking ruins of my bike, and pushed it a couple of hundred yards to the Little Chef. I went in and asked for the manager. He came out and when I told him what had happened, he let me put my bike in a secure area. When I came back in, he'd made me some coffee, and told me that I could use his phone to call my office. He was incredibly helpful, and refused all offers of payment. He let me leave the bike there until a mate helped me put it in his van a few days later.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

A sad lament to the once much loved Little Chef. Those breakfasts en route to a week’s holiday in the UK were part of the adventure. Thank you Jon for rekindling some fond memories. 👏👏👍😀

[@a.y.t.a.s.494]

Olympic feast?

[@jonh6585]

Was always pancakes for me and a odd orange lolly after for a clear plate

[@paulsengupta971]

@@jonh6585 The pancakes were great! Traffic Light lolly. Started red, went amber and then green as you sucked it. The map was the best freebee for me though.

[@TheThejpmshow]

Fondly remember my dad ordering the ‘Olympic Breakfast’ from a Little Chef The irony being he was no Olympian 😁

[@Toy0w0ta]

I'm glad we can all look back on Little Chef fondly, despite it's crapness.

[@ptonpc]

Better than the stuff in garages now I think (Probably I am looking back with rose tinted glasses).

[@mariemccann5895]

Speak for yourself, the were sh** period.

[@andymerrett]

Maybe not brilliant but really, the Little Chef Olympic breakfast was as good, if not better, than most of the chain/supermarket cooked breakfasts you can get today.

[@paulsengupta971]

The Magnificent Seven burger was nice. The pancakes were lovely, and this was the reason I mostly made my parents stop at Little Chefs back in the '70s. That and the Little Chef map. I loved having my own map to look at when we were going on holiday somewhere. And of course it had all the Little Chefs on it so I could plan the next stop!

[@xr6lad]

Speak for yourself. We loved it. The crumbed garlic mushrooms specially.

[@granddadmark7639]

Bloody loved Little Chef especially their Olympic Breakfast 😊

[@mariemccann5895]

You must have had a shyte diet.

[@granddadmark7639]

@@mariemccann5895 🤣🤣🤣

[@a.y.t.a.s.494]

Olympic feast?

[@tallthinkev]

Yeah, but you could only get that every four years

[@granddadmark7639]

@@tallthinkev 🤣🤣🤣

[@hasyourgulaggotplanningper2459]

I used to be a land buyer for Little Chef and then was an agent selling them off. I spent a lot of time driving up and down the A1 and then A14 in the eighties and nineties, finding replacement services sites for all the old Little Chefs under threat.

[@deeayenn]

Roaring East bound through the original Haughley bend was sensational. Unless, of course, there happened to be some poor sod attempting to cross the carriage way immediately after the nearly blind bend, attempting to head West. This was often a leading factor in the accidents. As far as I know, the Suffolk stretch of the 14 no longer has any direct lane crossovers (bridges provided instead) and all highway access roads have long sliproads to lower the chance of accidents. On mentioning Little Chef, they were often referred to as Little Thief, for obvious reasons. Although their original milkshakes were fantastic. Happy Eater was the competition, if I recall correctly.

[@TheThejpmshow]

Newmarket, I lived there 1987-1992 It’s effectively in Cambridgeshire but enveloped by the Suffolk border in a weird semi-exclave Look at it on a map, it’s odd

[@user-mn4cc6bb7t]

When they were re-organising English local government in 1974, they tried to eradicate a few anomalies. For instance, the Norfolk / Suffolk border between Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft did change but the stuffy traditionalists moaned so much about moving Newmarket into Cambridgeshire that the government caved in.

[@danielryan3061]

It’s always been Suffolk those greedy people in Cambridgeshire wanted the income for themselves

[@ehsnils]

That should by itself cause some interesting headaches when it comes to building permits and all kinds of other issues.

[@jonh6585]

​@@user-mn4cc6bb7tI read it was those in Suffolk worried they would lose a big chunk of income from the only part that actually had some money, they didn't want to lose that to cams

[@Technaudio]

That's a bit like Coventry, which is in Warwickshire, but in the county of West Midlands. Also, which county is Peterborough in? If you search Google maps for Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, it appears in none of them.

[@starlight5229]

So much to like in this Jon and a 'Freightliner' just passing through! 👍🏻😁

[@jammiedodger629]

A lot of empty wagons on that though.

[@zx85]

Wonder if it was going back to Felixstowe... the track passes near where I live and there's dozens of them every day 😄

[@admiralateran2135]

I love this episode, as its a very local one to me, having lived in Bury St Edmunds and now Stowmarket. I always wondered what happened to the old A45. Fun fact in Ipswich if you come from the town centre towards the East Side A14 exit you can still find a sign referencing the A45 not far from the Suffolk County Council parking.

[@fenpikey]

Where abouts in Ipswich?

[@Sarge084]

That Highways England site looks very much like a DVSA vehicle inspection site to me! The sight of that site is enough to put the fear of dog in hairy arsed truck drivers!

[@diggit67]

looking at what that is I thought it was a test centre

[@MrFlash4203]

The site isn’t an inspection site it looks like local hgv training schools use it for reversing practice. There is a similar site near Norwich on muck lane on part of the former RAF Rackheath site on the old runway to the north as my training school used it when I was learning. Even on Google maps shows the Norwich one being used for training.

[@MrFlash4203]

The vehicle testing site is at woolpit just of the A14

[@MrFlash4203]

@@diggit67the test centre is on ransomes industrial estate near the Orwell bridge Ipswich. Not far away.

[@alanraine-diplock8404]

I believe that site is now used by the company I trained with to get my HGV licences

[@TheChiefSmeg69]

I subscribe to a fair few channels John, but yours is literally the only one where I was bothered to go and watch the entire back catalogue (oh hang on, I did that with Project Binky too). This new series is shaping up rather nicely - more please!

[@deancosens5710]

All hail project Binky!

[@GP-pw5wb]

The Haughey Bends memories. If you were a local you knew what you were approaching. But for the unfamiliar travellers who had just driven from the A14 dual carriageway from the Midlands were suddenly confronted with two sharp apposite blind bends which would make you think you had suddenly joined a race track. And just to add a little interest in the middle of these two bends was a cross over junction. Often the outside lane was blocked by artic lorry trailers turning across the road to go back in the Midlands direction. The new road is a relatively a new piece of road that was long overdue in its construction to bypass this horendous accident black spot.

[@awavey]

they tried speed cameras for a while, but ultimately the "new" road, its been there for 16 years now was an improvement, it still freaks me out the bit near Stowmarket heading East where you have cars on the old road driving towards you on your left only slightly hidden by the fencing, but very visible at night.

[@petermumford265]

Bury St Edmunds is famous for not just the Sugar Factory! Green King brewery!!!!! Many a happy hour delivering beer there!!!! 🍺

[@davecooper3238]

Abbot not the same as it was. I remember when you almost needed to chew it.

[@LesW100]

And not forgetting the smallest pub in Britain, The Nutshell

[@Vincent-ow9lj]

And home to the first and true patron saint of England, hence it's name.

[@brianartillery]

The Beet Sugar factory was started on that site, by, I believe, the great Stephen Fry's Grandfather.

[@IndigoJo]

Fun fact about Newmarket: for decades, Newmarket was signposted all around north and east London. It was the first destination signposted along the A11, which until the M11 was built, ran straight to London through Bishops Stortford and the edge of Harlow. Even though Harlow already existed, the signs through the east end of London and right the way out to places like Euston assumed you wanted to go to the races if you were going that way. The signs (which also gave Cambridge as the destination for the A10) remained in place for decades after the M11 opened (sensibly signposted, initially, for Harlow and Cambridge, nowadays for Stansted Airport) and the old A11 downgraded to mostly B-roads.

[@Scrubworks]

The male green child eventually grew up to be unnaturally huge and started his own tinned vegetable company.

[@JohnSmithShields]

The first 20 seconds. A lesson in alienating an entire county.

[@paulstokes393]

I know...bloody cheek😅

[@spiritofthetime]

As a Norfolker I recognise the comparison of Suffolk as being like a smaller version of Norfolk as far more egregious than merely being described as a "nothing county" 😂

[@erhswku]

I have no idea where any of these places are as I live in Tennessee and have never been to the UK. But if I get to one day, I will now know where the Haughley Bends are.

[@deeayenn]

Were... it's covered in moss and debris now and part of a cycle route. Good for a quick dog walk though. Better to stop up the road in Bury. That place is ancient..

[@barryjatkinson]

Yep. Bury St Edmunds is definitely worth a visit. If you want to stay in a really old and genuine English pub can I suggest the Queens Head in Hawkedon. It's not only handy for BSE but also Newmarket and Long Melford.

[@MrGreatplum]

Excellent video, John. Especially liked the drone footage with bonus freight train!

[@Peppzzii]

Welcome to stowmarket 😎

[@imaner76]

I could really go for an Olympic Breakfast right now... 🤔

[@andymerrett]

despite derogatory comments, there's not really much that comes close to it even now.

[@davidrobert2007]

Suffolk 'n good 😊

[@buttonworld77]

I work for British Sugar at the Wissington factory and can confirm you have as good an understanding of the process of making sugar as most of us do 😂

[@neilbain8736]

4:19 Sugar Beet. Stephen Fry's grandparents came over from Hungary to the UK to develop sugar refining from sugar beet and started that very factory. A lot of this story is recounted autobiographically in his novel The Hippopotamus. He still lives somewhere off the A47 around Narborough. It's great seeing old home territory here. I've been to Ipswich by bike, motorbike, and train. When I had the motorbike I tended to go via Thetford or Norwich and park by the Giles (Express Cartoonist) Granny Statue in Ipswich which was a handy bike park. It''s a good statue. She's worth a photo and if the flash goes off it looks likes she's been zapped by lightning and lovin it.

[@JohnDavis-ed5sg]

Lived in this area for fifty years and driving these roads so often I'm really enjoying this series. I think we all look back fondly at Little Chef because our parents took us there as a treat on holiday journeys, in my case in the Hillman Imp or the later Anglia Estate. Happy times they were.

[@dom.b1972]

Ahh the Little Chef restaurants. Couldn’t beat an Olympic breakfast there. There’s an abandoned one at Little Paxton, St Neots on the A1. The first Little Thief I ever went to.

[@elelegidosf9707]

122k subscribers, and well deserved. Who knew there were so many people who, like me, like to geek out over roads? Excellent content.

[@RKanharn]

Weird to see you do multiple videos in my local area recently but even weirder when you discover things you didn’t even know lol

[@lewis72]

Norfolk and Suffolk are very much my home turf, so i'm enjoying these videos. I've also been driving since the late '80s so can remember the good old bad old days of the A45 being the East-West route from Felixstowe to Birmingham, mostly being single land carriageway and even being 1 lane to be used by both directions through St Neots, where HGVs from all over Europe would have to sit and wait for the oncoming traffic to clear.

[@jammiedodger629]

Not forgetting the old Ipswich Bypass mate before the Orwell Bridge opened up!

[@lewis72]

@@jammiedodger629 Ah, that opened in 1982, so would only have gone on the old route on school trips ona. coach, so wouldn't have been aware of the route I did.

[@jammiedodger629]

@@lewis72 the old School Coach trips! there's a thing. When I started driving, a bit later than yourself, to get to the M1 it was A45, then A428 or A604. Not much fun whichever way lol.

[@lewis72]

@@jammiedodger629 Yes. The A14 was the A45 stitched up to the A604 with a few half-hearted junctions, where you had to turn off to stay on the same road. I remember driving to Northampton in about 1992 and the A45 was single lane after Cambridge.

[@jammiedodger629]

@@lewis72 Yep, mate, I'm smiling here as you're bringing back memories for me haha. I'd only just started driving HGV's back then and I'd follow the single lane A45 to the A1, turn left, to the Black Cat RB then onto the A428 thru Bedford. I'd stop at the Garage just before the M1 for a feed and a coffee. You're making me feel old now mate !.

[@krayzkatman1990]

When I first moved to East Anglia the A14 was the A45 east of Girton and the Haughley bends were, well, bends. The other day I traced the old A45, now B645 between Higham Ferrers and St Neots and then A428 from there to Cambridge as someone's vehicle has decided to undergo spontaneous combustion on the A14. A video on the history of the A45 might be worth a go.

[@brett-m]

It's that favourite day of the week!! Im voting for these episodes to be a minimum of 20 mins in length.

[@sr6424]

Little Chefs and Happy Eaters. Like you say, a lot lost their business overnight! Before the M40 was open I used to drive the A34 now the A3400 between Stratford and Oxford. There were a few of the above. A few years ago I had time on my hands, so took the old route reminisce. They had all obviously disappeared. The Happy Eater I used to meet the boss in was an antiques shop!

[@nsuro80]

The Happy Eater at Hindhead was when we knew our holiday had started.

[@ontrackpro1]

Id happily watch a whole series on little chef loved that place

[@jamesknightreading]

Another Little Chef fan. When I was twelve, it was a treat to be taken there for lunch.

[@stefencooke]

Have to say I am liking the new series also hope to see you at Rustival

[@MikeOnslow]

As someone who lives in Suffolk, I resent that early comment 😂 I also work in Woolpit so this one is quite close to home! Never thought I'd see it on KZbin to be honest! I've always been fascinated by the bits of old road around Woolpit and Tostock

[@DrWhoFanJ]

9:34 Not like you to miss an obvious joke, Jon! (...the great grandson of Oliver, the OG Barnard!)

[@James47298]

Getting out of Newmarket quickly was good idea but you should have spent more time in Bury! Next you should go down A14 to Ipswich but keep driving to Felixstowe lol

[@paulhughes4842]

I shudder when people mention the A14. Back in the day I used to have to regularly visit BT at Martlesham Heath. One day, I was engrossed in TMS on the radio while heading home and missed the A12 junction to take me back to the M25. I didn't realise until I reached Bury St Edmunds. Still (fortunately) my biggest ever wrong turn.

[@RichieRouge206]

No Sunday evening is complete without a video from John! I do miss Little Chef… they were crap but awesome

[@nkayjay1]

Road trips and old maps. Perfect for a new series.

[@chrisrand5185]

Welcome to sunny Suffolk. I'm surprised you didn't mention the 'pillar of salt' internally illuminated art deco roadsign on Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds. However, it wasn't built until 1935, so is too new for the guide. It is now a grade 2 listed structure.

[@johnosborne9271]

Great series John. I really do miss the little chef olympic breakfast!

[@solariss452]

The A14 and the A34 were built as military roads for the deployment and dispersal of Cruise Missiles in the 1980's Cold War.

[@blah7956]

Lol no, its the main road to Britain's busiest port

[@timofthomas]

This feels very 1970's - I remember looking through all my Dad's, Grandpa and Taid's atlases and those little Letts diary sized vertical line junction / route planner atlases that I cannot seem to find anywhere any more (main vertical line being the numbered trunk route you were on, then all the junctions marked (not to scale) with the crossing road numbers so you could count down your junctions to your turn and plan your route. Well - this series on the Michelin guide, it feels like going through those and dreaming of driving through all those towns as a small boy back in the day - love it :) rekindling a sense of wonder and exploration at a time when only three houses on our street had cars and only a couple had phones!

[@2001davebowman]

Never been to Newmarket, most likely never will. But that’s not the point of these videos. Jon’s presenting style, gentle humour and sharp observations make this series every bit as compelling as the Secrets of the Motorway. And I can’t believe I never realised the Michelin Guide was sponsored by the tyre people! 🙈

[@gerrymckenna4878]

Nice video..the comment about the wooden spire @8:22 reminded me of Trigger's Broom in OFAH :)

[@dmodeboy]

Great to see you having a nosey at my home town Bury St Edmunds. I remember navigating the Haughley Bends...was always glad i never had to exit or turn onto the A14 as the junctions were pretty terrifying! And Little Chefs...oh how i miss them. The Olympic breakfast 😋 😂

[@johnspear3452]

The Haughley bends were a nice bit of road to drive at speed the corners flowed well, fun at 90+ until they put up speed cameras.

[@brianartillery]

Also near Kentford is the 'Boy's' or 'Gypsy's' grave. Odd tales surround this tiny grave on the side of a junction. Fresh flowers were often placed on it by unseen donors; Motorists have reported their cars playing up at this point, and cyclists and horse riders have told of an odd compulsion to stop and dismount at this point. I have also heard that dogs are not keen on the spot, either. A nice bit of folklore, nonetheless. The Haughley bends were a bastard. People saw them as a challenge, especially in bad weather, and several pricks who thought that they were fantastic drivers, found out very quickly that they weren't. Many cars were married to trees there over the years. The old part of the bends is now haunted by doggers, I'm told, who made the nearby picnic site, where, presumably, you could eat lunch and watch idiots fly off the road, unusable. 😆😆😆

[@sideshowbobsfanclub]

I was going to comment on the Gypsy Boy's Grave, I first saw it many moons ago and have a photograph of it somewhere. In the photo it appeared to have a transparent dome over it, although from memory no such dome actually existed. Weird stuff indeed...

[@brianartillery]

@@sideshowbobsfanclub - It has - or had - I have not been there for ages - a little rustic iron fence round it.

[@JohnSmith-sl1my]

Ending music 🎶 banging . 👍 🎸

[@DaveP1991]

Fun British Sugar sugar factory fact, although not about that sugar factory but one of their plants in Norfolk. British Sugar is one of the world's largest growers of legal cannabis. They use a giant greenhouse they used to grow tomatoes in.

[@southcalder]

Little Chef will be forever remembered for the Olympic Breakfast.

[@davidostrowski679]

Never mind a Little Chef series, what about Happy Eater! I still have memories of being in the playground of one and going home with this little snakes and ladders game with magnetic pieces in a foldable board thing. OMG I am old

[@labman20]

I'd forgotten about the Haughley Bends. Used to come down the A14 at 70ish mph then suddenly you're in Magots and Beckets at Silverstone, hang on tight and hope the driving skills are up to it. Great days.

[@ianreynolds9733]

As usual a great story. Little Chef used to serve the “Olympic breakfast” not the greatest but on a long journey a welcome addition.

[@timsully8958]

There are so many things to go over, it’s almost like a historical documentary every time you post. There are so many topics raised: abandoned roads, kinky roads that are straightened out…and then abandoned: roads which by pass established businesses…which become abandoned. And then there’s the sugar factory which results in people’s healthy diets being abandoned, along with their svelte outlines 🤔 For a light hearted show, there are some serious abandonment issues 😉 Great stuff as even John, hope you have a great week mate 👍🍀🍻

[@travellingjourneys7840]

Trying to cross the A14 at the Haughley Bends coming out of Haughley was always a bit of a squeaky bum moment, especially in my van :)

[@officialmcdeath]

Thanks not only for an excellent episode but for confirming that Little Chef is no longer a thing - once got rather hangry at one of their A303 outlets when I ordered just a sweet course which didn't arrive until my travelling companion had finished their savoury \m/

[@donalddodson7365]

Thank you, Jon. I like the new series merging your wit, humor and roadway history. I never tire of tyres ... 😮

[@blisteringbarnaclesmagnets6364]

Good afternoon John 🧲⚓️👍

[@trevorshayman]

Used to drive past the sugar beet plant quite frequently, my recollection is you'd smell it before you'd see it.

[@jonathanavis5390]

Thanks

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, really appreciate that

[@comm1508]

Blimey the "old abandoned Highways England site" I would say is a DVSA site as it is set out for the HGV reversing that you have to do on the test. You have to reverse at a slight dog leg staying in the lines and then end up backing into the coned area with the trailer rear end being inside the coloured in box area at the back to simulate a loading bay.

[@johnmehaffey9953]

The little chef was my dad’s favourite stop when driving thank goodness I learnt to drive and could bypass and go elsewhere much to dads annoyance

[@leopold7562]

Little Chef… the number of times I stopped at one of those for an Olympic Breakfast of a morning! No wonder I’m such a stout chap…

[@lloydmorganmoore7810]

2:27 is pretty cool to see Phoenix Bike Park from the air! That place is great fun.

[@davidyardley512]

Terrific video Jon, very informative and educational of an area of England I have not spent much time in. As a New Zealander, it continues to amaze and fascinate me with the amount of abandoned road that you have there, that just gets left as it was, like Haughley Bends you cover here, and I recall the original video. Down here, we tend to break up old road in the realignment process, and return it to nature, though there are spots throughout both islands where old bridges can still be seen and old road routes are still visible.

[@xr6lad]

Little ached wasn’t rubbish at all. I loved it.

[@jonathanhall7334]

The Green Children sounds like the start of a Monty Python Sketch 😂

[@mikebuckley5072]

Nice touch on the VW dealer, I like the past history near the routes more than the actual routes now we're off the mways, which had a whole story to themselves. Add me to the "abandoned Little Chefs" list, I mentally note them every time I go past one, I can't speak them out loud, my kids think I'm sad enough as it is.

[@defender1006]

As others have commented perhaps a series on road side catering establishments would be of interest to many, Little Chef and Happy Eater being the most well known brands, along with other other single site operations like the Ace Cafe, Busy Bee, Jack Hills, Jungle Cafe, Jocks Cafe to name a few?

[@leopold7562]

Can I put in a request for OK Diner? I believe there’s still a couple in Rutland, but the rest are long gone. There used to be an abandoned tin hut on the East Lancs Road which was one, but I don’t know whether it’s still there

[@chriswilkin2112]

Not a road trip without a stop at a Little Thief restaurant.

[@brantnuttall]

I love this series!

[@awavey]

that Kentford Little Chef is probably the one I most visited as a kid, coming home from a summer holiday, or trip out of Suffolk we always stopped there on the way home. It survived surprisingly a long while after Little Chef kind of fell out of fashion, the westbound side especially as I think it was a petrol station for a while and tried to be a starbucks kind of coffee point, people always said it was the nearby American bases of Mildenhall/Lakenheath that kept them profitable enough to keep going

[@ridefast0]

Much missed services, on a road that needs more of them, and I remember the fun of not slowing down through the Haughley Bends with its dreadful junctions!

[@binarydinosaurs]

I was sure the Little Thief at Kentford was still open wien I moved here in 2004 but it must've just been starting to rot. It always amused me that the road was up a height and the services seemed to be down a hole. Fitting. Haughley Bends were 'kin awful, though the services was a handy place to stop for a pee. When the Haughley Straights opened it seemed to take the fun out and there's still holdups and delays there.

[@PiousMoltar]

The only thing I remember about Little Chef is their ice cream with wafers and cherry syrup. I honestly can't remember a single main course I ever had there. Nice to see you in my neck of the woods lately. Shoutout to the Newmarket sausage, clearly the best type of sausage.

[@M0UAW_IO83]

Used to like Little Chef, shame they vanished but a lot of the buildings live on as "adult" shops serving an important purpose keeping truckers in lingerie and bad porn.

[@SteveW139]

Truckers in lingerie? There’s a mental image I could have done without.

[@Lot76CARS]

Little Chefs, how (some of us) miss them,early starter and a pot of tea please!

[@Astro_Gardener]

Another great video John, thank you.

[@jonathonbrett-qn1ic]

Thank you Jon

[@adsyoffinch]

Cracking episode mate

[@dansanders185]

Yay! Right past my house! The Haughley Bends were phenomenal - unless you were next to a lorry, then they were f****** terrifying

[@awavey]

and just as you got to Haughley turn someone pulled out :D

[@theroadblog2858]

I love your outros Jon. They are always a treat!

[@simonbarnes5776]

Great video. Keep up the great work Thanks!

[@spracing04]

That place at the Haughley bends that you did your outro from used to be a notorious ‘dogging’ site 😂

[@AutoShenanigans]

I was a bit late to that party then....

[@melvynevans5000]

yet another well put together and funny vid keep em coming john

[@FuddButter]

Thanks John!

[@chrisbardell]

This series is great, love it. Thanks for all the time and work you put into it.

[@alanbatt]

hi John I really enjoyed this video great job👍

[@mictss6602]

Very interesting

[@minijimi]

I had a great week. This is fascinating stuff. Good job John!

[@philippabaker1078]

I love your humour. Great channel .

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, thanks for watching!

[@andrewthorne6653]

This is going to be really interesting series thank you Jon

[@DaveJustifiable]

Another great video, thank you. Didn’t quite see my house on the drone footage, but nice to see Stowmarket from the air and on KZbin.

[@zx85]

I was trying to see if I could see my house when the drone was up by the sugar factory 😄

[@Rega128]

Nice work John