Transport cafes

[Stallard12]

Just as a matter of interest, are there any true, old time transport cafes left?  Places where they serve nothing but eggs, bacon, sausage and baked beans.   Or have the imitation motorway places totally replaced them.  I should imagine that the 'server' in the stained t shirt and cigarette has also passed.  Is this a good thing or bad?

[Davy51]

I think the Hollies on the A5 at Cannock might still be there , but  big business has done for most of them.

[P J]

Big business didn’t do for them, people choosing to use their offer above that of the greasy spoon led to their closure and if filthy hygiene was a trait I’m not surprised

[Davy51]

BP & their truckstops did for a lot of greasy spoons & the fact that many towns decided they didn't want lorries parked overnight in their towns, even though townsfolk were quick to complain if the shops were short of stock. As a result most parking areas for lorries are now near to motorways & the need for transport cafes has declined. The regionalisation of most distribution networks has also reduced the need for roadside stops by drivers.

[P J]

So people chose to use other places for their food stops rather than the greasy spoons.  There are still some roadside cafes dotted about. There is also a glut of caravans and suchlike flogging some pretty ropey cholesterol if that’s your bag

[Stallard12]

Yes, I guess pretty much restricting heavy traffic to the motorways has negated the need for them.    I just happened to remember an overnight trip I took in 1958  (on a foggy night).  It was with a family friend who drove as ' trunker' ' for the big transport company in Warrington.  We went straight up Knutsford Road and kept going north.  Through Watford Junction and into London, came back the following night.  Used many of those transport cafes and loved them.  I guess the greasy food and cigarette smoke was more acceptable at two am.

[asperity]

I'm guessing you went straight down Knutsford Road and kept going south Stallard

[Bill]

There's certainly not many left. The only one I can think of near here is the "Let's Eat Caffe" on the A49 through Stretton just before the traffic lights on the Northwich Road (A553). The wife and myself had a big breakfast there a few months back (for her special birthday treat) and I thought it was pretty good. Other than that, there are no end of mobile greasy spoons along main road laybys and industrial estates, where if you're lucky, you might just get an outside plastic table and chair.

 

Bill

[Davy51]

I don't know if it is still there ,but there used to be a good old transport cafe on the A30 near Launceston , an ideal breakfast stop for holiday makers  travelling overnight to Cornwall.

[Bazj]

The "Little Chef" chain bought a lot of the transport cafe sites in the 60's and 70's. I used to go with my dad when he drove for Crosfields and we used to stop at one on the A34 on the Stafford to Stone section. There was also the one going to the M6 from Grappenhall which is now Crudens offices and Georges Cafe in Penketh.... 

 

Ironic that after taking so many of the sites, Little Chef too has since sold on many of the sites because of falling trade. Many have been turned into Indian restaurants (at least 12 that I know of and about half a dozen that are now "Adult Superstores" (or sex shops as they might be better described ) one of which is on the road to Hull after the end of the M62!!

[asperity]

Is that the road to Hull, or the road to Hell Baz? Oh, never mind, more or less the same thing .

[Stallard12]

Correct Asp, what can I say, I'm old and I spend most of my time upside down or drunk, or both.

[Evil Sid]

i suppose it all depends on which way you are going really. (although with hull at one end and liverpool at the other)

transport cafes were very handy and the hygiene or lack thereof one of their many charms.Many professional drivers would rather eat there where they could get double egg,sausage, bacon beans and a fried slice with option of black pudding and a mug of tea or coffee for the price that a motorway cafe charges for a pot of tea.

The mobile greasy spoons also have a bad reputation but their hygiene standards that they must adhere to are probably as strict if not stricter than motorway cafes and a bit of ropey cholesterol now and then will not kill you, high levels of cholesterol daily probably will  or at least lead to a heart attack.

I wonder these days if the world has become too sanitized. peoples resistance to germs and viruses seems to be dwindling. Schools these days shut down if one pupil gets measles or chickenpox, where in the past it was common to send kids to school with just about any symptom, the thinking behind it being that once it had run its course through the school then the kids would be immune from it.

[Bill]

I think that's right Sid. A salmonella burger once in a while works wonders for the immune system.

 

Bill

[Stallard12]

Not only in hygiene Syd, in just about every aspect of life.  Wow, what subject that is, it could be on this forum forever.  Will the future generations be  willing to wait in line at Harwoods for four hours for the chance to buy one orange, then when close to the end they hear, ''There all gone, try again next week.'  I think that the end of the human race will come, not from wars, disease or terrorism, but by liberalism and political correctness.   If they banned Health and Safety, or more correctly, the people who seem to gravitate to those sectors,  the world, with a few bumps and bruises, would have a better chance of survival.