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The Little Chef

Harking back to the Mods and Rockers here.

I started off as a Mod because I liked the smart clothes.

Then I met a tall hunky Rocker and changed my allegiance!

Which were you? Do you remember the Little Chef?

Share your memories by posting a comment below.

Little Chef cafe
Royal Pavilion and Museums Brighton

Comments about this page

  • Interesting that they all seem to have ‘local’ registration numbers. PO and BP from West Sussex 1959 and 1958, xCD (is it?) Brighton 1959, and PAP East Sussex 1959. Those that can be seen that is. So they weren’t down from London for the day were they. Date of photo, 1960 at a quess. Did the national chain of ‘Little Chef’ restaurants nick the name then? There’d be litigation now.

    By Tim Sargeant (17/03/2018)
  • This made me smile, Jennifer. A case of ‘divide and rule’.  There is only one reasonable response to the question and that is: ‘I was a mod’. Light the blue touch paper and stand well back. 

    By Philip Burnard (17/03/2018)
  • Hello Jennifer. I don’t recall where this Little Chef was but I do remember a Little Chef cafe in Western Road. I worked in a fashion shop called Roma which was next door to Mitre House.
    On the next block along, almost opposite Plumber Roddis, was the Little Chef. It was quite the ‘in thing’ to go for lunch there and enjoy a burger in a bun. Not that I could afford to do that regularly. I left school to take an apprenticeship in window display and my wage was a simple £2.10 shillings a week. Not a lot to play with. This was in 1961.

    By Sandra Bohtlingk (19/03/2018)
  • This photo was taken at Marlborough Place, just to the north of the King & Queen public house. The three arched-topped windows of what is now the Allied-Irish Bank in the mid-background are visible even though one of them is partly obscured by the lamp-post. The photographer would have been standing just at the bottom of North Road.

    By Alan Phillips (19/03/2018)
  •  

    I remember the Little chef well as a mod on a scooter trying very hard not to get caught at the traffic lights  at North Road  and find yourself outside the LITTLE CHEFS  door on occasions the rockers would rush out The Chef, drag you off the scooter and give you a dig. One bank holiday mods attacked the LITTLE CHEF and the windows were all smashed; rockers piled out  of the chef there was a few fisticuffs going on that’s for sure, starting to get out numbered us mods ran across the Victoria lawn to Grand Parade I still remember the sound of pepsi cola bottles whizzing past my ear and smashing on trees. One of those lads that day who was with me  is now a retired policeman. I think the next year the chef owners  opened another café up near St Peters Church it was called THE GOLDEN GATE. Once again trouble brewed on bank holidays.

    By KEN MCNEILL (22/03/2018)
  • I’m not sure if this group is one of rockers. They look too ‘neat’, while rockers were more wild looking. Also, it would seem that a some of the riders are wearing ‘standard’ motorcycle gear, complete with helmets. I wonder if this is a meeting of a local motorbike club?  On the other hand, they seem to have an audience – a group of onlookers, perhaps mostly rockers. The lady with the white handbag and white shoes seems out of place. I would love to hear other people’s views on this. 

    By Philip Burnard (23/03/2018)
  • The picture is completely typical for the era.  I spent a great amount of my teen years in the Little Chef from around 1960 to when I got my first car in 1964.  We classed ourselves as rockers because we rode motor bikes not scooters but I don’t think any of us were violent, just exuberant.  Percy the owner was a bald headed easy going man who seemed quite old but was possibly only in his late forties or early fifties.  I’m amazed if he made any money from us, but it was a great place to hang out. Oh, The girl with white handbag and shoes probably came straight from work and the outfit was characteristic of the time and not at all out of place. Happy times

    By Pat (nee Pengelly) (08/04/2018)
  • I remember the little chef, in my time there we had a massive fight with the Mods right outside. Two of the guys there were” Mick from Enfield” and “Kip” there was a guy with long blond hair who’s girlfriend Jill gave a lot of her attention to me and he did get a bit vexed with that, another girl was Pat, she had long red hair and freckles, this must-have been 1966ish to 68ish I was only 13 at the time and what Pat wanted to do to me ” I’d never heard of ” heheeh, never did get the red Eagles tattoo ,lots of cool memories. Danny.

    By Danny Warren (29/04/2020)
  • Most of the comments above relate to the sixties, Mods and Rockers being the tribes of choice for some young people at that time. The Little Chef of my experience was during the mid fifties, the years of Rock ‘n’ roll, Teddy boys, bopping in the tiny area of the Chef to the Rockola jukebox, drinking ‘coffee dash’ with Percy being very tolerant of our spending hours without spending anything other than the threepenny bits on the jukebox with it’s 78 rpm records.

    By ian tracy (27/05/2020)

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