dafdave:
Is the merry crest[spelling?]off the a2 still going,last time i was there i arrived late and didnt eat in the morn 12yrs since i was there,apart from the food it used to be like alladins den you could buy all sorts of stuff.
regards dave.
The Merry CHEST and yes you could buy all sorts there! Having lunch one day and suddenly all the doors inc kitchen burst open with the old bill raiding the place! @Everyone stay where they are’ bit! There and the old Scratchwood services wheer you could buy virtually anything. Think it called Aros now!
Yes, it is still the Merry Chest today as far as I know, on the old A2, now A226, close to Bluewater, off the southbound A2. It is described in the AA Roadside Cafes and Truckstops guide, 2005. A former tearoom apparently.
I’ve Googled in on it and that’s definitely the place, although according to Google it is the A296 Frying Pan.
Funny though, it is still in my tired old mind that it was/used to be called Treasure Chest. Come on someone really old who used to stop there back in the 50s or 60s, put me out of my delusional (or not ) misery.
mushroomman:
I wonder if they are now doing a tea dance for pensioners on a Tuesday afternoon Harry If I can find my old Clubs Affilliated card we might get another discount on top of the 20%.
Regards Steve.
hiya,
Tea dance my a**e the only dancing I can do is the quickstep out of the door, but Iv’e still got a
club card somewhere, Steve It’ll give your bus pass a bit of “wellie” from Oz to Hinchies, eh’ just
wonder if Stringy’s depot is still there if you can remember I did a few weeks for him holiday
relief back in 1957 and Hinchcliffe’s cafe was a bit too near even in those 20 MPH days and the
cafe would have been shut I was on night trunk, the pub opposite Stringy’s was my first port of
call prior to departure you needed to be drunk to drive those old Octopus’s and trailers was they
slow, but they was Ok to work for and I did get an invite to get a permanent start a couple of
weeks after my casual had finished but I lived in Bacup and had got a job on the doorstep.
thanks harry long retired.
Hello Harry, I have just had a P.M. from Boden as I have been trying to think of the name of the transport cafe that was on the A56 about half a mile on the left from Stringfellows yard on the way towards Edenfield, it was The Dusty Miller .
mushroomman:
I wonder if they are now doing a tea dance for pensioners on a Tuesday afternoon Harry If I can find my old Clubs Affilliated card we might get another discount on top of the 20%.
Regards Steve.
hiya,
Tea dance my a**e the only dancing I can do is the quickstep out of the door, but Iv’e still got a
club card somewhere, Steve It’ll give your bus pass a bit of “wellie” from Oz to Hinchies, eh’ just
wonder if Stringy’s depot is still there if you can remember I did a few weeks for him holiday
relief back in 1957 and Hinchcliffe’s cafe was a bit too near even in those 20 MPH days and the
cafe would have been shut I was on night trunk, the pub opposite Stringy’s was my first port of
call prior to departure you needed to be drunk to drive those old Octopus’s and trailers was they
slow, but they was Ok to work for and I did get an invite to get a permanent start a couple of
weeks after my casual had finished but I lived in Bacup and had got a job on the doorstep.
thanks harry long retired.
Hello Harry, I have just had a P.M. from Boden as I have been trying to think of the name of the transport cafe that was on the A56 about half a mile on the left from Stringfellows yard on the way towards Edenfield, it was The Dusty Miller .
Regards Steve.
The Dusty Miller was demolished and new houses built there a few years ago.
The one by Hinchliffe’s yard was still open last week.
I used them both many times.
Anyone remember the caff J24 on the M4, just outside Newport, north side of the M4 (junction with the A48 and the road that went north to Raglan and Monmouth)? Probly gone now, but I remember it always being busy, a useful spot for breakfast before tackling the bridge and a lot better than the services on t’other side of the bridge.
Another one (this is testing the grey matter…) in Brizzle, down (I think) near Brunel Lock. All I remember was it was a total [zb] to get to, I can remember goign over Merchants Road bridge, then there was a fiendish set of one-way roads and the caff was either under or right next to an overpass. Worth the effort in the end though - cheap reasonable nosh and you could sit there looking at the docks, the traffic whizzing around over the other side of the lock and you could sit and wonder at the Clifton Suspension bridge.
ParkRoyal2100:
Anyone remember the caff J24 on the M4, just outside Newport, north side of the M4 (junction with the A48 and the road that went north to Raglan and Monmouth)? Probly gone now, but I remember it always being busy, a useful spot for breakfast before tackling the bridge and a lot better than the services on t’other side of the bridge.
Taylors cafe wasn’t it, never seemed to alter for years, I don’t know if its still there now.
Here you are Park Royal the cafe in Bristol built under the flyover next to the dock entrance. It used to be called the Venturers or similar.
A lot of drivers used to park in the layby outside and walk up the road to Browns tea rooms by the old bridge.
This is Taylors cafe today with the lorry park going up the slope at the side. Muckdonalds is across the road from here. The ministry used to have a visitor centre near there that used to pull a lot of the Irish trucks in for a check , don,t know if that is still there.
Numbum:
Here you are Park Royal the cafe in Bristol built under the flyover next to the dock entrance. It used to be called the Venturers or similar.
A lot of drivers used to park in the layby outside and walk up the road to Browns tea rooms by the old bridge. Cheers Phil.
Well I’ll be blowed… thanks Phil, I didn’t check on Google cos I never imagined it would still be there.
If this is the one, is my memory faulty or did it have a name change at some point?
Or is it a different caff altogether?
Hi there
Its been called the Merrychest as long as I can remember, I used to use it three or four times a week back in the 80s when I was working for Maylen transport and then UK paper in the 90s.
The cafe (never heard of it referred to as a tearoom ) was a popular stopping place for Blue Circle and Rugby cement drivers, the works at Snodland now all closed and of course local transport firms from the Medway towns and surrounding area’s
It was run then by Ben and June, think the surname was Benbow or Benbon, but is now run by the three daughters Julie, Terry, and Tracey.
I can remember seeing an old diary my old Dad got from the Merrychest back in the sisties so it’s been called that for a good fourty years.
There used to be a cafe on the A20 between Lenham and Charing called “The Little Chest” this was run by June’s sister apparently I didn’t know her name and am not sure if it’s still open or indeed still there, the Merrychest is still there and open but as I now work nights don’t get the opportunity to go in there
I still have old books for lorry drivers with cafes and digs in but can find no mention of the Merry Chest, not to say it didn’t exist.
According to my book the Little Chest was on Ashford Road, Lenham telephone 0622 858555. Post code ME17 2DL.
Looking at it on Google streets it has been renamed A20 Roadhouse.
the cafe is still on the A20 between Lenham and Charing. but if i recall correctly there was one at Harrietsham near the bridge on r/hand side headind london bound. My mate Ginger who I worked with at Lenham told me was sitting in cafe one day having a brew, and there were a couple of undertakers in as well with their hearse parked up outside. Then two cars collided outside the cafe on the A20, and Ginger turned round to them and asked “aint lookin for a back load are you lads!!” PMSL.
didn’t the merry chest have its name painted on the roof? The cheese n toast was to die for. the toast nearly burnt on the edges and the cheese dripping over the sides. yum yum.
The one at Harrietsham was the Halfway Cafe, now housing. Just north of that was the Roebuck Cafe. There were loads on the A20, a few of which are still open. From West Kingsdown southwards, they were Oasis, Hollyville, Clearways, Johnsons, Oakdene, Venture, Winsor, Jungle, Roebuck, Halfway, Little Chest, (also called Rose Of Tralee), now called A20 Roadhouse, Jiffy Snacks, Airport Cafe. I think that’s it!
fryingpan:
The one at Harrietsham was the Halfway Cafe, now housing. Just south of that was the Roebuck Cafe. There were loads on the A20, a few of which are still open. From West Kingsdown southwards, they were Oasis, Hollyville, Clearways, Johnsons, Oakdene, Venture, Winsor, Jungle, Roebuck, Halfway, Little Chest, (also called Rose Of Tralee), now called A20 Roadhouse, Jiffy Snacks, Airport Cafe. I think that’s it!
I might be wrong here(I often am) ,but I remember two cafes quite close together - one was the
Little Chest and I reckon the other was the Rose of Tralee. This latter had a pallet yard or haulage
firm behind it and caught fire. It was closed for ages after that if it ever reopened.
or did it have a name change at some point?
If I can find my old Clubs Affilliated card we might get another discount on top of the 20%.
