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Granada Restaurant

Granada Restaurant
Granada Restaurant
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Often accompanied by:Little Chef, Burger King
Used by:Granada
Introduced:1992
Removed:1999
Predecessors:Country Kitchen Restaurant, Pavilion Restaurant
Successors:Fresh Express, Moto Restaurant
See also:The Granary, Foodfayre

Granada Restaurant was a generic name which appeared to bridge the gap between the distinctive Country Kitchen Restaurant and the eventual roll-out of Fresh Express.

The first hint at a change of thought came in 1992, when Thurrock services opened without the usual Country Kitchen brand, though the buffet style, green signs and green carpet were all somewhat reminiscent of it. When Granada purchased nine Pavilion sites in 1995, they inherited a number of much more modern buffet counters, from which they had to strip all the Pavilion branding but didn't want to go backwards by reintroducing fake plants.

Cherwell Valley services, opened in 1994, also had the generic restaurant name. A new style was used for Stafford in 1996, with the word "Restaurant" written in their new corporate style, a new buffet layout, black internal signage and a shared seating area.

A team were brought in to create a new name ahead of the opening of Donington Park in 1999, which turned into Fresh Express. That was eventually rolled out nationwide. While this was also a buffet-style design, it was a lot smaller, as it was designed to form part of a food court.

Curiously, the Cherwell Valley example never fully embraced the Fresh Express name. When Moto took over, this site gained its own 'Moto Restaurant' signs. When Moto bought Bridgwater in 2002, that one also evaded the new brand, and was also known as a generic 'Moto Restaurant'.

Locations

Granada Restaurant was used at most Granada service areas. These were: