Exterior of the amenity building at Pevensey in August 2024. It’s solely occupied by Starbucks & for 5 years, was disused. This amenity building was constructed in 1993 & opened in 1995 as a Little Chef. It was one of the smaller branches, but this is due to low footfall at the site as a result of its location on a more local route. Little Chef traded here for 13 years, and eventually closed in 2008. It was one of the first Little Chefs to close, & left the amenity building entirely derelict. As Little Chef closed, Pevensey was in a very bare state, with just an Esso branded filling station (there is no motel here). McDonald’s expressed interest in operating here during 2012, where they would build a drive thru restaurant. This would’ve been extremely profitable, but the idea was dropped. Instead, EuroGarages purchased the building in 2013 & opened a Starbucks. There is no drive thru option here, but at least the amenity building is now in good condition. There is a small amount of outdoor seating, which is handy as this building can overfill with customers quite rapidly. This building does look very clean & tidy from the outside. It’s presentable & could easily be used for an advert! Had the former Little Chef been larger, EG would’ve considered refurbishing this site into a mini food court. This can be seen at many of the A303 former Little Chefs, such as Ilminster and Podimore. If the building was larger, it would likely contain a Burger King & Greggs, but no Starbucks as Starbucks much prefer to “stand out” in their own corner of a food court or in their own building. Funnily enough, there used to be a Costa at Pevensey. When the filling station was owned by Esso & branded “On The Run”, there was a small Costa in the forecourt. This has long since been removed & the garage was sold to BP in 2016. Starbucks’ relaxed attitude towards price inflation can be off-putting for customers. Some customers will only use this amenity building for the toilet facilities. The fact that Starbucks is largely all that’s on offer at the site means there’s no brand competition, giving Starbucks more freedom to inflate their pricing. As the photo evidences, the site was very quiet during my visit. I did stop for a coffee quite early, & luckily, beat the crowds so my photos were better quality. This place is never packed, but can get fairly busy during the summer holidays. Pevensey is well signposted from both directions of the A27 so customers are clear on how to access the site from the Pevensey roundabout.

Photo taken on 12/08/2024 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Pevensey, A27, EG Group, Starbucks