ROADSIDE restaurant chain Little Chef is to close 67 of its 161 sites, including the one at St Leonards near Ringwood.

A meeting was held on Wednesday at which staff were informed that their jobs would be going when it closed on January 31.

However, the jobs have been saved at another site, on the A31 at Picket Post, as staff were also brought together to be informed that it would remain open.

Staff at the site at Red Post Services in Winterbourne Zelston declined to comment on whether their restaurant would stay open.

The sites earmarked for closure have been trading unprofitably for a number of years due to “a variety of economic and locational factors”, the company said. It would not release a list of branches to be axed.

Across the country, around 500-600 full and part-time jobs are due to go.