Anyone accustomed to the drive northbound on the arterial A1 will be familiar with the former abandoned restaurant building known most commonly as ‘the Little Chef building’ at Wansford. The property was empty since the fast food restaurant outed in 2007. The 1930’s Art Deco building has been the subject of a covert ‘inside out’ restoration project since it was acquired by us in 2013.

It originally opened in 1932 as the Wansford Knight, a roadhouse, that provided rooms and a restaurant for travellers. In 1936 the building changed hands and became The New Mermaid Inn to replace a building that was demolished to allow the widening of the road at the junction where the Old North Road meets Old Leicester Road. In the 1970s The New Mermaid Inn and a lot of other road side cafes and restaurants were bought out and rebranded as the Little Chef to expand the chain across the UK, The company chose not to replace the building, but to extend and refurbish the existing to make the building fit in with the standardised corporate design. The building remained as the Little chef until 2007 when the company changed hands and a revision of the locations excluded the Wansford site.

The original Bauhaus design of the building makes it an architectural rarity although subject to modernisation and an extension to the frontage, it forgoes listed building status. Images of the original building compared with recent ones demonstrate how relatively small changes to proportions and detailing can diminish the original architectural purity of the building.

In 2013 Harris McCormack Architects Ltd bought and started renovation works on the iconic plot and after much effort, time and patience in 2015 it opened its doors. The practice was originally based in a cosy ground floor office nestled in the heart of Stamford.