United Kingdom-based Travelodge Hotels has struck a sublet agreement deal with American fast-food chain Popeyes Louisiana Chicken to open a string of drive-thru restaurants at its hotels, which number more than 580, according to the website of the hotel firm.
Travelodge is the second-largest hotel brand in the U.K. by hotel count behind Whitbread PLC’s Premier Inn.
I mentioned this to a colleague, who has lived in the U.S., and his eyes lit up.
In my 20 years living there, I only ever went to one Popeyes, in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
In a release, Travelodge said that it “is keen to expand its development brand partnerships as part of its U.K. expansion program, which includes looking for a further 300 hotel sites across the country.”
Not all of them will get a Popeyes, as the hotel firm partners with other food establishments, and I assume space is limited.
If guests enjoy chicken, then they know where to sleep.
I went to the Clarksdale outlet on the intersection of Desoto Avenue and State Street as I was told this was the spot where blues musician and legend Robert Johnson reputedly went to at midnight and placed his guitar over his shoulder.
Then, so the story goes, the Devil took it, tuned it and gave it back. At no time did Johnson dare to look behind him.
The next day the music-loving locals were amazed at his new-found ability, and rumors spread that he might have gained ability, but the Devil had gained his soul.
This is the legend of the Crossroads, an important concept in Blues music and its steeped mythology. Johnson only recorded 29 songs and died young, aged 27, poisoned, at least according to another story handed down over the subsequent generations.
When 1960s musicians such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Robert Plant, Keith Richards and many more started investigating the Blues, they came across Johnson, and his reputation has never stopped growing since.
Me? It was breakfast, and I was just hungry, so I headed to the crossroads — other crossroads in Mississippi and the South claim the honor, too. I seem to remember there were only two eating establishments there.
The first was a donut shop, but it lacked seating. The other was a Popeyes, I am fairly sure, although a look at Google maps today does not show one at that exact spot.
There is a chicken restaurant there with a different name, and there also is a barbecue place.
I ate some type of breakfast sandwich and drove farther south to Quito, Mississippi, where I had directions to see the one-story house, now long gone, where Johnson supposedly met his end.
There are already nine of the Popeyes brand in the U.K., all in London or close to it, and none connected to a hotel.
It came to the U.K. in 2001.
The first one to be connected to a Travelodge is to be in Northampton, again not too far from London but marginally to be the most northerly U.K. member of the franchise when it opens.
The U.K. does not really do grid-system cities like they do in the U.S., so the chances of meeting mysterious guitar-tuners here are already more limited.
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