Chicklade services
(former)
| Road: | A303 between Amesbury and Ilchester |
| Address: | Chicklade Service Station Chicklade Hindon Salisbury Wiltshire SP3 5ST |
| Opened: | 1960s |
| Closed: | 2024 |
| Services type: | Single site located at the side of the road |
Chicklade was once a fully signed service area on the A303. After a difficult decade, it's now closed, but holds planning permission for an EV charging hub to be built in its place.
Site History
The service area was built in the late 1960s as an Esso forecourt with a small branch of Little ChefHistory attached, positioned right next to the busy A303.
When the forecourt was branded Esso in the 1980s, the Little Chef logo was displayed prominently around the forecourt, and the forecourt itself was painted in their white colours. Red Little Chef flags were displayed all around it. The forecourt went on to be branded Q8 in the 1990s and Pace in the 2000s.
The Little Chef lasted until September 2012, when there was a wave of closures of under-performing restaurants. Chicklade was lucky to survive this long as it had a partner site two miles down the road at West Knoyle, which had been refurbished to a much higher standard. When the Little Chef closed the service area was removed from Ordnance Survey maps.
Independent Era
The restaurant re-opened in 2013 as Eat & Go, while the forecourt became branded Murco with a shop branded SPAR. Road signs promoting it as a service area were removed in 2015.
The restaurant closed after a large fire on 10 July 2017, but it reopened again some time later. The forecourt and restaurant closed again in autumn 2021, with the site being stripped of all Murco branding and the entry being closed. The land was reclaimed by the owners of the surrounding Fonthill Estate.
The site partially reopened in April 2022 with Sol Bakery & Café taking over the former restaurant. The owners of Sol Bakery added a large glass window to the seating area so that customers can watch produce being prepared on site in what was described as a 'theatre kitchen', as well as providing a new dedicated dog walking field at the top of the car park.
Sol Bakery & Café ceased trading on 20 September 2024, leaving the complex mothballed again.
Future of Chicklade
When they took over, Fonthill Estate said they had been considering options for developing a new service area on the A303. Despite the new lease of life, they insisted that the existing building was in need of significant investment, and in summer 2022 submitted plans to demolish the forecourt and replace it with a new electric forecourt with 24 high-powered chargers and parking for 60 cars.
The new site will also feature a new amenity building with a large self-service café, leased out to the previous occupants Sol Bakery, with large indoor and outdoor seating areas available and the 'theatre kitchen' experience retained. A shop and bakery offering locally sourced produce will also be included, along with toilet facilities.
A new public footpath will also be built between the service area and the nearby Chicklade village, allowing residents to walk to the facilities. The new building will have an unusual design, as it attempts to blend in with the surrounding hill. The entire site will use low-polluting lighting to reduce its impact on Cranbourne Chase.
The project has been called a mixture of 'Chicklade' and 'Bockerly'. A planning decision was expected to be made in Autumn 2023, with construction due to commence soon after, but a decision wasn't made until January 2025. A number of conditions were placed which continue to act has hurdles to the scheme.
Area Map
This is an automatically generated map of the surrounding area. You can use the button on the right to switch between a map and an aerial photo. Historic maps may be available at SABRE Maps.
🗺 Grid reference: ST904344 | See GeoHack for modern layers