Guide to Restbite

This page is about the Roadchef restaurant. Another chain of restaurants called 'Restbite' also existed at One Stop service areas.

Restbite was the last of Roadchef's buffet-style restaurants, and marked a period of confusion about what Roadchef wanted to do with the concept.

In general, it seemed that Roadchef wanted to use a single food order point, rather than the traditional buffet that had served motorways for the last 35 years. This change required a major reconfiguration of each site, so until that could be done, the existing onRoute restaurants were given small refurbishments to become Restbite.

Initially Restbite used a distinctive green colour scheme, which later became black and white. While it did receive some refurbishment, this was on a small scale which usually left it with a smaller serving area. Major refurbishments would see Restbite removed and replaced either with Fresh Food Café, or with a larger McDonald's.

There were four Restbite restaurants still open in 2017. By 2020, only Bothwell, notorious for being left out of refurbishment schemes, still had a Restbite. This closed under the guise of the COVID-19 lockdown, and was left empty for some time.

Locations

Restbite used to be found at:

• Annandale Water (A74(M))
• Bothwell (M74)
• Chester (M56)
• Clacket Lane (M25)
• Durham (A1(M))
• Hamilton (M74)
• Killington Lake (M6)
• Magor (M4)
• Maidstone (M20)
• Northampton (M1/A43)
• Norton Canes (M6 Toll)
• Pont Abraham (M4)
• Rownhams (M27)
• Sandbach (M6)
• Sedgemoor southbound (M5)
• Stafford southbound (M6)
• Strensham (M5)
• Taunton Deane (M5)
• Tibshelf (M1)
• Watford Gap (M1)
• Winchester (M3)