Thorpe on the Hill services
A46 at Hykeham Roundabout
(also accessible to traffic on the A1434)
Signposted from the road.
LN6 9AJ
map and directions
Single site located at a junction.
One of EG Group's recent acquisitions at the start of Lincoln's bypass.
Facilities
Catering: Burger King, Greggs Amenities: Travelodge, Free Cash Machine Outdoor Space: Grass area next to restaurant building; picnic tables Forecourt: BP, Shop'N Drive, Subway, Chicago Town Pizza, Costa Express, West Cornwall Pasty Co., Free Cash Machine
Parking Prices
Short stay customer parking is available for all vehicles.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
Thorpe on the Hill Service Station
Middle Lane
Thorpe-on-the-Hill
Lincoln
Lincolnshire
LN6 9AJ
Trivia and History
The Little Chef sign by the roundabout, pictured in 2005.
Shortly after the A46 Lincoln Relief Road opened in 1985, Norfolk House proposed a filling station, restaurant and tourist information centre to be built near Thorpe on the Hill. A revised plan without the tourist information centre was granted planning permission in 1987.
The service area opened in late 1988 with a Kelly's Kitchen restaurant and a Fina forecourt. Kelly's Kitchen applied to build a hotel here too.
Kelly's Kitchen were taken over by Trusthouse Forte shortly afterwards, who changed the restaurant to become the 'Lincoln' branch of Little ChefHistory. This would compete directly with their own 'Fosse Way' branch, which had been built in around 1982 and positioned in a less-ideal location on Haddington Lane. This situation continued until that Fosse Way branch closed in 1999.
Here at the Lincoln branch, a Burger King was added in 1998, with plans for it to become a drive thru - the drive thru didn't happen and the Burger King later closed. Despite attempting to sell the unit, the Burger King reopened in November 2013.
Restaurant Closure
The Little Chef restaurant and its Burger King franchise were passed to Euro Garages in February 2017, who only held the rights to use the Little Chef name for a year. Their preferred brand partner, Starbucks, didn't want to be joined to the Burger King, and no progress was made when time ran out.
The restaurant changed to the temporary name EG Diner in January 2018. The building closed in July 2018. It reopened in October 2018 with a refurbished Burger King alongside a new Greggs store. A Sainsbury's On the Go joined the site in the summer of 2019, but closed in 2020.
EG Group hold planning permission to demolish the restaurant building, allowing a new stand-alone Greggs store and Burger King Drive Thru restaurant to be built instead, retaining the existing car park.
The filling station went on to become Total in the 2000s and in late 2012 was sold to Rontec who rebranded the site to Esso. Rontec added their Shop'N Drive store to the site and converted the car wash into a stand-alone Subway store.
Alternatives
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| Interchange (northbound, 9 miles) Winthorpe (9 miles) | Services on the A46 | Doddington (3 miles) |