Motorway services discussion

[PTR 444]

The landscape of Britain’s motorway services has changed significantly since the first were opened alongside the early motorways of the 1950s and 1960s. Back in the day, they were owned by the government who leased sites out to private operators by tender (a bit like the rail franchising system), with sites won by a range of competing operators including the likes of Blue Boar, Top Rank, Trusthouse Forte, Granada, Motoross and Taverna. The focus back then was on fine dining, since it was expected that most of the clientele would be middle or upper class who were more likely to afford a car, but they didn’t materialise as much as anticipated and many sites gradually switched to takeaway-style food from big brands.

Nowadays, we have a “big three” of operators, Moto, Welcome Break and Roadchef who fully own the sites and are free to develop proposals for new MSAs at their will (the system was privatised in 1992). Their offerings are pretty mediocre from a general point of view, although there are smaller operators such as Westmorland, Extra and Euro Garages who tend to fare a bit better. On the whole however, motorway services aren’t incentivised to provide a high quality service, but that may not be necessarily a bad thing in the context of a motorway service area, since they should not be destinations in their own right. Any MSA that happened to get good reviews might find an influx of locals using the motorway just to access it, thus causing congestion problems and taking parking away from those long-distance travellers who may need it.

So in general, what are your thoughts on motorway service areas? Do you think they were better in the past or present? Do you think they still serve a purpose bearing in mind that there are so many alternatives these days not far from a motorway junction. Will the onset of electric vehicles likely change the footprint of MSAs?

 

[yorksrob]

Back in the day Motorway services were designed with some amazing architecture.

I think the offering is generally a bit samey now compared to what they used to be. I remember as a child stopping off at the much missed Aust services and seeing all the glasses of orange and tomato juice lined up in the restaurant as we queued up for food. You don't see that now !

 

[paul1609]

Unless it's for an emergency loo only stop. I never use them. I have a network of off the motorway local shops, supermarkets and cafes I use.

 

[PeterC]

The only one that I gladly stop at for more than sanitary relief is Gloucester. When using the A1/A1M I try and time things so that I take a break at the OK Diners in Rutland.

If you are on the North side of the M25 n a weekday morning or lunchtime it's worth remembering that the tea stall just beside the exit to South Mimms Services. A decent bacon butty and mug of tea for not much more than a coffee in the adjacent Starbucks drive through.

 

[Snow1964]

The only one that I gladly stop at for more than sanitary relief is Gloucester. When using the A1/A1M I try and time things so that I take a break at the OK Diners in Rutland.

Gloucester (and it's Northern cousins at Tebay) are in a different league, I like the locally made items approach rather than bland (and overpriced compared to city branches) fast food.

A few motorway sites have transformed their seating ambience since covid, but haven't really got appealing catering yet (I mean tasty well cooked food, rather than expecting you to queue to get a paper bag of gruel with additives)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Any MSA that happened to get good reviews might find an influx of locals using the motorway just to access it, thus causing congestion problems and taking parking away from those long-distance travellers who may need it.

I'm sure this does happen at some sites, Gloucester and Tebay for example... but I'd be surprised if many others have a large contingent of locals using them. The only times I've ever used my nearest MSA have been Taunton Deane when I lived in Taunton (mainly because I worked there); and I once went to Woolley Edge specifically to use the toilets because my bathroom was being refitted at home. This meant joining the M1 at Calder Grove (J39), stopping at the southbound services, and returning home via Haigh (J38). The only time I've called at Hartshead Moor was when it wasn't local to me and I was doing a longer cross-Pennine trip.

 

[NoRoute]

Gloucester (and it's Northern cousins at Tebay) are in a different league, I like the locally made items approach rather than bland (and overpriced compared to city branches) fast food.

Fully agree and driving away from Gloucester it left me wondering how it is, that there's no effective competition or competitive process for service station sites which periodically kicks out poorly performing operators from their service stations, to open them up to bids from new operators who are in a different league for quality. The UK talks a good game about promoting competition, but doesn't practice it, getting stuck with such poorly performing services.

The state of many services is pretty poor, many of them are unloved and barely maintained, the food and retail offering is generic and uninspiring, prices are typically expensive for what is provided. I reckon it creates something of a feedback loop, where the poor quality/value of the offering deters people from visiting and spending much there, driving down the offering further, a downward spiral.

It seems to be a UK problem, same as you get in the train stations. Some of the German train stations have a great selection of take away and eat-in food that puts the UK railways to shame.

 

[PTR 444]

I'm sure this does happen at some sites, Gloucester and Tebay for example... but I'd be surprised if many others have a large contingent of locals using them.

Well for a start, those two have facilities that people actually want to go to. Good for business but goes agains the ethos of preventing MSAs from becoming DITORs (destinations in their own right).

 

[Lost property]

Gloucester (and it's Northern cousins at Tebay) are in a different league, I like the locally made items approach rather than bland (and overpriced compared to city branches) fast food.

A few motorway sites have transformed their seating ambience since covid, but haven't really got appealing catering yet (I mean tasty well cooked food, rather than expecting you to queue to get a paper bag of gruel with additives)

Totally concur with your views albeit I would say, to a certain extent, Tebay has been a victim of of it's own success usually being very busy.

MSA's have always had a less than glorious reputation. Remember one of the lies about "higher prices due to location " ?....I did a project on Little Chef as part of my Degree. They said this was rubbish and the reason, for them, was because they provided restaurant service which others didn't which is fair enough.

There have been improvements, of sorts, but, as other have said, food quality / variety isn't that great and remains expensive.

They can be entertaining however. I've spent plenty of nights in the car parks, in a van or a car....I like car camping, been doing it for years, and it's far from casual if you prepare in advance and for contingencies such as night driving and fatigue. Cheaper than a rip off hotel of course. However, while I can sleep through industrial noise, human noise is very different as humans = problems.

You do see, and hear, an eclectic range of humanity and certainly at weekends.

As for Germany / Holland, stations and MSA, always been the case. It came as a revelation and pleasant surprise when I first encountered German facilities.

 

[Ken H]

I am going for Leicester Forest East. Not because of the usual facilities, but because I was staying in the hotel there and there was a lapwing on the flat roof of reception outside my 1st floor bedroom window

As an aside I saw a heron fishing in the canal basin behind the Travelodge in Loughborough!

 

[yorksrob]

Totally concur with your views albeit I would say, to a certain extent, Tebay has been a victim of of it's own success usually being very busy.

MSA's have always had a less than glorious reputation. Remember one of the lies about "higher prices due to location " ?....I did a project on Little Chef as part of my Degree. They said this was rubbish and the reason, for them, was because they provided restaurant service which others didn't which is fair enough.

There have been improvements, of sorts, but, as other have said, food quality / variety isn't that great and remains expensive.

They can be entertaining however. I've spent plenty of nights in the car parks, in a van or a car....I like car camping, been doing it for years, and it's far from casual if you prepare in advance and for contingencies such as night driving and fatigue. Cheaper than a rip off hotel of course. However, while I can sleep through industrial noise, human noise is very different as humans = problems.

You do see, and hear, an eclectic range of humanity and certainly at weekends.

As for Germany / Holland, stations and MSA, always been the case. It came as a revelation and pleasant surprise when I first encountered German facilities.

I miss Little Chef.

Yes, they were pricey, but you had a nice restaurant and a good meal.

 

[jfollows]

Back in the day you could park in service station car parks for as long as you wanted.
You could arrange to meet people there and leave your car there.
Now they’re infested with loathsome companies like Parking Eye who try to extort money from you.

This has changed the way I use motorway services, they might say for the better for them but for sure for worse for me.

Sometimes I’d park and then when I returned I had to continue ‘the wrong way’ to the next junction before returning home, but that was OK.

Maybe it was a pre-mobile-phone thing but it was easy to arrange to meet someone at “Keele southbound” or wherever.

Plus I’d probably patronise the food facilities whilst waiting. Now I hardly ever stop at motorway services. Their loss.

Essentially, the idea that you’d have to pay to park in a motorway service station didn’t occur to me or anyone. Until some time this century, anyway.

 

[zero]

I only ever use them for the toilets or to sit down somewhere other than the car, except for Tebay.

I would like it to be permitted to drive in by the service entrance as long as you also leave by the service entrance within 2-3 hours.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Gloucester (and it's Northern cousins at Tebay) are in a different league, I like the locally made items approach rather than bland (and overpriced compared to city branches) fast food.

A few motorway sites have transformed their seating ambience since covid, but haven't really got appealing catering yet (I mean tasty well cooked food, rather than expecting you to queue to get a paper bag of gruel with additives)

Rugby is probably my favourite. Would be nice to see railway stations like that. A good range of known brands and a nice seating area.

Tebay etc are all very well but I don't want a day out in a farm shop, I want to use the toilet and get a coffee. I've not yet got over that they don't sell paracetamol in the shop, only the garage. This is absolutely nuts.

One thing I don't get is how much toilets at these places stink (same as Euston). Why is a whacking great extractor fan so difficult?

 

[Lost property]

I miss Little Chef.

Yes, they were pricey, but you had a nice restaurant and a good meal.

Little Chef were the architects of their own demise. It's not that complicated as to why...something called brand complacency comes to mind allied with a supply chain which was a nightmare for suppliers.

I think 2hrs free parking is quite reasonable really, as are, generally speaking as the prices vary from site to site, the charges for any period within a 24hr extended stay. And I'm not somebody given to approving profiteering.

However, given the success of Tebay / Gloucester, it appears the model will be repeated at a recently approved MSA to be called..Tatton..on the M56.

 

[thejuggler]

Only ever use them for toilet stops. I do however have a couple I will avoid, Gretna and Scotch Corner. Both always packed and both have awful car parks to navigate.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I miss Little Chef.

Yes, they were pricey, but you had a nice restaurant and a good meal.

They were utter garbage! When I was a kid my dad called them "Little Thief" because of the prices and paltry portions. Once I was older and could drive myself I called at one to see what it was like... rubbery bacon, half-frozen chips, weak tea and the most watery baked beans I've ever encountered.

If you think a Little Chef was a "nice restaurant" you've led a very sheltered life!

Back in the day you could park in service station car parks for as long as you wanted.
You could arrange to meet people there and leave your car there.
Now they’re infested with loathsome companies like Parking Eye who try to extort money from you.

This has changed the way I use motorway services, they might say for the better for them but for sure for worse for me.

Sometimes I’d park and then when I returned I had to continue ‘the wrong way’ to the next junction before returning home, but that was OK.

Maybe it was a pre-mobile-phone thing but it was easy to arrange to meet someone at “Keele southbound” or wherever.

Plus I’d probably patronise the food facilities whilst waiting. Now I hardly ever stop at motorway services. Their loss.

Essentially, the idea that you’d have to pay to park in a motorway service station didn’t occur to me or anyone. Until some time this century, anyway.

One thing our family did a few times, and I'm sure we weren't the only ones, was my dad would drive his dad (in later years it would be me or my brother driving Grandad) as far as Leicester Forest East services... where we'd hand him over to my uncle who lived near London, so that Grandad didn't have to do the 220 miles in his 1l Nissan Micra in his 80s each time he visited. It did mean twice as much fuel being used, but it was the 90s so fuel was much cheaper.

 

[yorksrob]

They were utter garbage! When I was a kid my dad called them "Little Thief" because of the prices and paltry portions. Once I was older and could drive myself I called at one to see what it was like... rubbery bacon, half-frozen chips, weak tea and the most watery baked beans I've ever encountered.

If you think a Little Chef was a "nice restaurant" you've led a very sheltered life!


One thing our family did a few times, and I'm sure we weren't the only ones, was my dad would drive his dad (in later years it would be me or my brother driving Grandad) as far as Leicester Forest East services... where we'd hand him over to my uncle who lived near London, so that Grandad didn't have to do the 220 miles in his 1l Nissan Micra in his 80s each time he visited. It did mean twice as much fuel being used, but it was the 90s so fuel was much cheaper.

As a child it was the first time I'd ever encountered scalloped potatoes - I was impressed !

 

[Ken H]

They were utter garbage! When I was a kid my dad called them "Little Thief" because of the prices and paltry portions. Once I was older and could drive myself I called at one to see what it was like... rubbery bacon, half-frozen chips, weak tea and the most watery baked beans I've ever encountered.

If you think a Little Chef was a "nice restaurant" you've led a very sheltered life!


...

But they did the Olympic Brekky....

 

[DelW]

Back in the day Motorway services were designed with some amazing architecture.

I think the offering is generally a bit samey now compared to what they used to be. I remember as a child stopping off at the much missed Aust services and seeing all the glasses of orange and tomato juice lined up in the restaurant as we queued up for food. You don't see that now !

Aust still calls itself "Severn View" despite the original building which had the view having been sold or leased to unrelated businesses. The current building is small and completely undistinguished, squeezed in between the car park and the filling station with no view of the river at all.

 

[yorksrob]

Aust still calls itself "Severn View" despite the original building which had the view having been sold or leased to unrelated businesses. The current building is small and completely undistinguished, squeezed in between the car park and the filling station with no view of the river at all.

Indeed, the old restaurant did have an amazing view of the bridge.

 

[jfollows]

I think planning permission has now been granted for "Tatton Services" between junctions 7 & 8 of the M56 near me (https://www.tattonservices.com/).
This seems totally unnecessary in terms of providing "services" to motorway travellers, since this route is primarily used by commuters or it's at the start/end of a longer journey.
No, it's about motorway services making money, and the "catchment area" includes places like Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Hale and Altrincham. Since at the same time the local roads are being clogged up with junctions for additional developments it may well be easier for people in these areas to do their shopping at the new motorway services rather than at the old shopping areas.
I've been to Tebay and it's OK, it's better than the average motorway service station and if I'm passing I might call in. But that's about it for me. In the end I tend to avoid service stations with complicated parking, that's to say if I can pull up and stop and go to the loo and get a coffee, that's fine, but if I have to drive funny and complicated routes to get to them it's too much bother.
P.S. Tatton was approved - if it was - because the local authority wants the ££££.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Back in the day you could park in service station car parks for as long as you wanted.
You could arrange to meet people there and leave your car there.
Now they’re infested with loathsome companies like Parking Eye who try to extort money from you.

This has changed the way I use motorway services, they might say for the better for them but for sure for worse for me.

Sometimes I’d park and then when I returned I had to continue ‘the wrong way’ to the next junction before returning home, but that was OK.

Maybe it was a pre-mobile-phone thing but it was easy to arrange to meet someone at “Keele southbound” or wherever.

Plus I’d probably patronise the food facilities whilst waiting. Now I hardly ever stop at motorway services. Their loss.

Essentially, the idea that you’d have to pay to park in a motorway service station didn’t occur to me or anyone. Until some time this century, anyway.

You've seen how busy some motorway services get, right? It's generally about 90 minutes free parking, which for the majority of users is ample time to use the service area for the intended purpose. Imagine bursting for the loo, pulling into the services and being unable to park anywhere because people are using it as free parking for a day out

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Imagine bursting for the loo, pulling into the services and being unable to park anywhere because people are using it as free parking for a day out

Often takes some time to park up at the (appropriately named?) "Welcome Break" Leicester Forest services on the M1, certainly if you want to be anywhere within a reasonable walking distance of the on site 'facilities'.

 

[jfollows]

You've seen how busy some motorway services get, right? It's generally about 90 minutes free parking, which for the majority of users is ample time to use the service area for the intended purpose. Imagine bursting for the loo, pulling into the services and being unable to park anywhere because people are using it as free parking for a day out

You’re probably right, but “back in the day” the motorway car parks were vastly bigger than their maximum capacity needed them to be, and long-term parkers like me tended to park well away from the buildings. That was then.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You've seen how busy some motorway services get, right? It's generally about 90 minutes free parking, which for the majority of users is ample time to use the service area for the intended purpose. Imagine bursting for the loo, pulling into the services and being unable to park anywhere because people are using it as free parking for a day out

It's always 2 hours at motorway services, off-motorway ones may vary.

 

[MotCO]

I would like it to be permitted to drive in by the service entrance as long as you also leave by the service entrance within 2-3 hours.

But if you have to queue to use the EV recharge points for 4 hours, you'll be even less amused.

There is a Youtube blogger who has visted all MSAs -

 

[185143]

Surely the vast majority of people use service areas for a quick pee stop and maybe a takeaway coffee or a bottle of coke.

I rarely do long distance drives, but that's by far the main use I've had for MSA's. I stopped for a McDonald's breakfast in Keele around 5 years ago admittedly and when I was a child would occasionally be passed between family member's cars at a service station (usually) in the Midlands when I was visiting family 'Darn Saarf', which often came with a KFC or similar lunch given the distances involved.

 

[scotraildriver]

They were utter garbage! When I was a kid my dad called them "Little Thief" because of the prices and paltry portions. Once I was older and could drive myself I called at one to see what it was like... rubbery bacon, half-frozen chips, weak tea and the most watery baked beans I've ever encountered.

If you think a Little Chef was a "nice restaurant" you've led a very sheltered life!


One thing our family did a few times, and I'm sure we weren't the only ones, was my dad would drive his dad (in later years it would be me or my brother driving Grandad) as far as Leicester Forest East services... where we'd hand him over to my uncle who lived near London, so that Grandad didn't have to do the 220 miles in his 1l Nissan Micra in his 80s each time he visited. It did mean twice as much fuel being used, but it was the 90s so fuel was much cheaper.

As a child the Little Chef was our restaurant of choice. We had one about 20 minutes drive away and if my parents asked where we'd like to go for dinner it was always Little Chef. The magnificent 7 burger was a thing to behold, along with Jubilee pancakes and the all day breakfast. Admittedly things went massively downhill but at one time it was a decent and good value restaurant.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Surely the vast majority of people use service areas for a quick pee stop and maybe a takeaway coffee or a bottle of coke.

I rarely do long distance drives, but that's by far the main use I've had for MSA's. I stopped for a McDonald's breakfast in Keele around 5 years ago admittedly and when I was a child would occasionally be passed between family member's cars at a service station (usually) in the Midlands when I was visiting family 'Darn Saarf', which often came with a KFC or similar lunch given the distances involved.

I think to be honest most people (families, certainly) are glad of the arrival of Maccies at services. They don't overprice quite like BK do and they're a known quantity.