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Had the misfortune to visit the Bridgwater services on the M5 yesterday. Sweet Jesus what miserable experience.
Any others that are as bad as this hell hole.
Michael Wood Services, on the M5.
Also, the only one that used to be on the M61 up until about 4 years ago - my goodness.
Washington a1m is fairly bad...
All of them are terrible in my experience
There's still a god awful one on the M61. It's like stepping back in time to the '80s. Hateful place!
I remember going into that one on the M61 and finding a guy charging his phone in the toilet using an adapted shaver plug, I'm sure he was sleeping in the cubicle 😯
It's really nice now that Euro have taken over and spent millions on it.
Think it was Burton in Kendal I went to a while back that was just in dire need of a refit in the loos.
Best is Tebay
Michael Wood has been tidied up a little!
Worst was the one on the A48 into Newport but that's just closed.
Westmorland/Tebay are opening their second services on the M5 - excellent choice for their first expansion as all the services along the M5 suck.
Happendon on the M74 is pretty dreadful. Its only saving grace is hardly anyone stops there. They can't even be bothered to turn the lights on, so you sit there on your lonesome, in the gloom.
Pretty much all UK ones are miserable. Much prefer the French ones; it's entirely possible there to have a good meal for a reasonable price unlike 8 quid for beans on toast in one British one.
the one on the M4 just inside the M25. what a hole.
think my favourite is on the M3
I love French services, they are buzzing!
Michael Wood is fine - all new and stuff. That one up North where Peter Kay did a spoof. Think that may have been M61. Truly horrible. Oh and anything up the M6 past Preston
I avoid them altogether. Instead, I make notes on where the petrol stations are at junctions.
E.g M6/ A580 has a Shell right on the roundabout 10p a litre cheaper than SS.
bolton. No contest.
Instead, I make notes on where the petrol stations are at junctions.
Wow, your life sounds interesting! 😉
Pook - that's the one!
Not all French services are any good. And the French side of the tunnel is much worse than the UK side IMO.
However, the Bresse services on the A40 is magnificent. (That's the A40 to Chamonix, not Oxford, BTW)
Tebay - that's the nice touristy Lakes decor one, isn't it?
Gordano M5
Bolton services is now Rivington
http://www.eurogarages.com/rivington-services/
Stop there regular, especially when coming back from Rivi on the bike as there's a route through the services.
Rivington isn't that bad - well the south bound bit anyway. Bright, open space, clean and tidy. A lot better than some.
Tebay is OK, but not as good as all the reviews would have you believe. The couple of times we've eaten there, the restaurant area has been a bomb site - food on the floor, ground into the carpets.
The deli and coffee cabins are nice touches though.
Another vote for Happendon on the M74; its ideal as its about right for a stop en route from the highlands and is so shockingly dire you're generally back on the road within 5 mins. Reminds me of the road-block from 28 days later 🙂
Can't say I have ever been to a good one 🙁
The Burton in Kendal one again on the m6 is an absolute dump.. Rank toilets, poorly surfaced car park and a ripoff.
Leeming Bar Services.
End of thread.
Washington a1m is fairly bad...
+1
Stracathro truck stop.
Tebay is really expensive too.
I've been to some French ones that were astounding and some that you wouldn't take a dead cat to.
But they're all pretty much awful at the end of the day.
Tebay is really expensive too.
Its expensive compared to going to a pub lunch but it doesn't compare badly to other motorway service stations on price. What makes it pricy is theres actually food you want to buy, its easy not to spend money in a services that doesn't sell anything you want to eat 🙂
Tebay is suffering from being over-rated though, partly in terms of just getting too busy, and partly in terms of being disappointed that its not the nirvana that everyone says it is.
Its only a good service station. If you think how bad services stations are - its only better than that
Astonishment that effort is being made to make a service station good (rather than only as rubbish as they can get away with) quickly turns into hyperbole.
Watford Gap - I never stop there any more for several reasons:
- I've broken down there twice
- I was involved in a crash near there on the M1
- I once got stuck there for an hour because of standstill traffic on the M1
- the car parking confuses me
Keele.
Partly because it's a dump, and partly because my overriding memory of it is going somewhere, stopping at Keele to be violently ill, turning round at the next junction to come home, and being violently ill again at the same services on the other side of the motorway. I still wince every time I drive past it.
Don't get to those north of the M62 that often but all those I frequent are pretty rubbish. Everything is a rip off and I do try not to have to refuel at them. Usually just drop in and grab a coffee to keep me awake but even thats more expensive than anywhere else.
My last visit to Westmorland s/bound was a good one, I was rattling with hunger, the hotpot was fantastic, however the farmshop is a monument to British Middle class gullibility and brazen-necked Cumbrians.
What's needed is the Paul bakery franchise to be allowed in.
Hapsford, on the m56, next to stanlow, one of the biggest oil refinerys in the uk, always fuel a lot more expensive, they could run a hosepipe to the refinery to save costs on delivery.
Then the main shop cafe,has a glass wall built accross the entrance that you have to go round, so funny watching people walk into it as they head to to the toilets with loads of signs saying police and staff patrol them, just perhaps patrol the car park outside or the motorway ,and lets not forget their sky high prices for anything and everything,if you want cheap uel and food cheshire oaks is just up the road.
Birch services now has a Greggs, typical North Manchester class that!
British motorway services need to take a lesson from the French ones.
Pease Pottage on the M23.
Pretty small but they still don't seem to have mastered how to keep their tiny toilets in good nick. Often a queue as half are out of order, stinks, never hot water and often so little water pressure that the cold taps hardly work. And one of the two hand dryers is normally broken as well.
Leeming Bar Services.
last time I was there it was basically just a mcdonalds & a petrol station. has it got even worse than that? or did it get flattened when they built the new 3 lane section?
Oh I've just remembered Blackburn services on the M65.
Not totally bad, but you kind of have to go through an Industrial Estate to get to it and there's a Driving Test centre on the same estate so you get stuck behind learners trying to emerge onto what is basically a motorway roundabout.
Think they have a Mcds and a newsagent and a petrol station.
The Westmorland/Tebay ones are good but I'm struggling to think of any others that are decent.
last time I was there it was basically just a mcdonalds & a petrol station. has it got even worse than that? or did it get flattened when they built the new 3 lane section?
No, it's the same shit hole as it was before
Harthill- petrol station and a wimpy. Wimpy FFS! And crap sliproads.
Frankley on the M5 Southbound. Breakfasts are complete garbage.
One of my favourites is Norton Canes on the M6 Toll. Except that it's bloody freezing in winter.
+1 for Happendon on the M74. Really strange place. Car park looks like it's been bombed such is the state of the tarmac.
Magor off the M4 just over the Severn Bridge is pretty rank too.
Keele is horrible, yep.
Maidstone on the M20 seems to be gradually getting worse and worse.
Pretty much all UK ones are miserable. Much prefer the French ones; it's entirely possible there to have a good meal for a reasonable price unlike 8 quid for beans on toast in one British one.
^^this
The French ones often have a nice grassed area where you can actually have a pleasant sit down with the family.
UK service stations - Everything is super expensive and they are full of slow walkers...it's like land of the undead.
Wimpy FFS!
I used to quite like Wimpy, they did a decent beanburger [i]and [/i]a Quorn burger. Wow, choice!
I went to one in, uh, Warrington I think, a few years ago and was startled to find they gave me actual metal cutlery. Luxury!
Other than Tebay, it's hard to rank them to be honest, so my nomination for worst services would be all of them (apart from Tebay).
Magor is a bit Grimm but at least it's independent. The horrible services are on the A1. Tried Scotch corner or many of the others. Horrible. Also the service near Kinross north of the Forth Road bridge on the M90 are terrible.
Tebay is evil! The people who run it are the spawn of satan! We were in there on Friday. They made me have a huge cooked breakfast. Wafting their delicious aromas at me as I walked in. Then I'm forced to go and stock up on ldelicious cheeses and sausages, and lovely lovely pies mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... piiiiiiiiiiiies..........
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The French ones often have a nice grassed area where [s]you can actually have a pleasant sit down with the family[/s] people unload their dogs.
Still nice, despite the shit.
nice grassed area
Perfect for taking the dog for a dump (France or UK).
They're all horrid which is why I only use them for a piss, easy-tea from M&S Food if I'm heading home late or a power-nap in the back corner of the car park. Jeezus if they were nice to stop at I'd never get to where I was going.
And why people will stand in a mile-long queue at a Costa to order a double-skinny-soy latte frappa-wotsit and fattie-cake for £7.85 is beyond me.
The M5 seems to have a fair number of god-awful services. I stopped at Frankley yesterday, dear God what a shithole.
There used to be a really dreadful one somewhere down near the Eastnor junction but I think that's been tidied up a bit now.
I don't like Tebay, can't see why everyone raves about it. It's astronomically expensive, always overcrowded and the food really isn't anything to write home about.
Bolton Services on the M61 used to be horrendous but they bulldozed the lot a couple of years ago and there's now a really smart Euro Garages one there with a Subway and a Starbucks.
A +1 for Norton Canes on the M6 Toll, it's a definite advantage to using that road.
how have we got this far into the thread without a mention of Sandbach on the M6?
M74 Northbound and Southbound.
Northbound is particularly horrible when the food bit is shut. The only available toilets are behind the filling station and I refuse to use them. Mrs Deveron was desparate once, I had to explain to her why there were 4" holes drilled in the cubicle walls at about 3 ft from the floor! And why there were people hanging about at midnight.
My favourite is Stirling. Last stop before home and the mountains!
Tibshelf M1
Frankley M5
Birch east-bound M62
Any services on the M5 from Bristol west-bound on a summer weekend
Aust services on the M48 just before the old Severn bridge they were hideous. The gypsy encampment that surrounded them didn't help to provide a relaxing environment.
how have we got this far into the thread without a mention of Sandbach on the M6?
dunno. almost all UK motorway services are monumentally shyte compared to those on mainland Europe, but Sandbach has to be one of the worst I've ever had the pleasure of using. When I go for a pee, i don't expect to have to stand in the communal waste of others.
Lymm services on the m6/m56 is turd, some sort of open plan outside courtyard affair that hums as the toilets belch noxious truck driver stenches out into the middle of it. Wooley edge on the m1 is also dog dirt, needs a good revamping. Saying that if im driving somehwere i don't tend to stop unless its to evacuate my bowels/ bladder, just wanna get to my destination wi out arsing around on the way.
and some that you wouldn't take a dead cat to.
I'm curious - do you often take a dead cat with you on car journeys?
how have we got this far into the thread without a mention of Sandbach on the M6?
Exactly my thoughts. How it still exists when Knutsford (which is OKish) is just up the road defeats me.
Much prefer the French ones; it's entirely possible there to have a good meal for a reasonable price unlike 8 quid for beans on toast in one British one
Why do you think that is?
Factor in the tolls and it doesn't look such good value for money...
Ones in Germany are good as well, toilets are spotless.
Denmark and Sweden are pretty pants but the ones in Finland were ok.
One of my favourites is Norton Canes on the M6 Toll. Except that it's bloody freezing in winter.
Norton Canes is ok in the sense that its quite new and freshly built, and bright and airy.... but what perplexes me is why its so busy. The whole point of the toll road is you're paying a fee to bypass the congestion and get past birmingham quicker.
Why pay that fee....... and then stop for half an hour?
I ask that as someone who's stopped there pretty much every time I've used the Toll. The thing is, I'm an idiot and usually if I'm travelling that way I'm being paid to do it so I'm not too hung up on the economy of the trip. I've sometimes used it as a handy rendezvous for passing aging relatives to other family members as its somewhere where both parties can turn back in the opposite direction. But why does everyone else stop there? Why was it even built there? You'd think the idea of building it on the toll would just be rejected as economic suicide. And yet the opposite is true, the place is mobbed.
The Westmorland/Tebay ones are good but I'm struggling to think of any others that are decent.
Weatherby services is actually pretty OK
How it still exists when Knutsford (which is OKish) is just up the road defeats me.
The services to the north and south of Tebay are funny. I missed the tebay exit one stormy night and stopped at the next one south. Just me and two members of staff in the [b]whole[/b] place
Aust services on the M48 just before the old Severn bridge they were hideous. The gypsy encampment that surrounded them didn't help to provide a relaxing environment.
I won't hear a word against them: I once left a spare tyre with the cashier in Smith's, to be picked up by a cycling buddy later that day. Class.
As for French motorway services, why? Much better to take a picnic and stop at one of the Aires.
Ones in Germany are good as well, toilets are spotless.
You have to pay for the loos though. Never thought the food was up to much however the ubiquitous kids' play areas are a godsend.
I did think Switzerland were the best until I got back on the road, re-did some mental arithmetic and worked out I'd spent about £35 on some sandwiches and drinks.
I once spent 24 hrs at london gateway services at the bottom of the M1 - what a dump. It's so close to London that no one stops there either going towards London or out of it. At the time it had no facilities bar a burger king which gets pretty tiresome for breakfast lunch and dinner
It's so close to London that no one stops there either going towards London or out of it.
No, I've used it a fair bit, usually forced on me by a delay on the motorway going into London or a delay in London coming out.
Stuck in London traffic for 90 minutes when you expected your journey to the M1 to take 20 minutes means it's ideally placed for a break when you're bursting for the loo or need a coffee.
Saying about good/bad services though, I'll rarely spend more than about 15 minutes in a services unless I need to sleep for 30 minutes to break up a long journey (or when coming back from a 24hr race!)
Is that the one that looks like a prison with an undercover car park?Had the misfortune to visit the Bridgwater services on the M5 yesterday
Edit: yes it is
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Whatadump
[i]think my favourite is on the M3[/i]
I can't believe someone has a 'favourite' Mway services!
& I'm just as sad for reading this thread!
Ones in Germany are good as well, toilets are spotless.
You have to pay for the loos though
but you can cash in the voucher afterwards and get almost all of it refunded
€0.20 for a slash in a gents you could eat your dinner in is acceptable imho.
how have we got this far into the thread without a mention of Sandbach on the M6?
That was where I ordered a beanburger without cheese from Burger King and was told "I'm sorry, we've run out of cheese."
Lymm services on the m6/m56
I don't know about the M56, but the Lymm services at J20 of the M6 claims to be a "truck stop" rather than a services. It's a weird little place but in its defence, you don't have to pay the service station premium prices in the shop.
They are all fairly guff to be honest.. I spend most of my week touring the highways and byways in my rig so have visited most of them at some point.. The only one I'd happily stop at overnight is Tebay. The rest are overpriced cesspits!
People seem to loose the ability to go to the toilet like human beings in service stations... Don't even get me started on the showers! I would rather go without (and have done) for a few days than shower In some of them!
Particular low lights are:
Charnock Richard
Rugby
Bothwell
Hamilton
Bolton
Burton in Kendal
Birch
Leeming Bar
Most of the ones on the M6
Everything on the M25..
However the accolade for worst service ever goes to Stracathro. Must be visited just for the experience!
Dry boke just thinking about it!
I don't go that far South of Liverpool much now tho so there could be some improvements.
There are some good truck stops tho,
Wolverhampton
Ecclefechan
Dandy's in Flint
Lets eat cafe on A49
Lockerbie
And J38 on M6.
Had dinner at Tebay SBound last night - stellar by service station standards and there's a nice (small) play area for kids. Tebay NBound is pretty ordinary IMO.
That stop up the A9 is nice, past Dalwhinnie. Although it may just be connected with going on great riding / walking holidays that I'm always in a good mood whenever I'm there.
Damn, forgot about Charnock Richard. Brain must have erased that particular experience.
I don't mind Leeming Bar. It's just a McDonalds attached to a weird gift shop isn't it? With what used to be the most dangerous exit from a services in the UK.
€0.20 for a slash in a gents you could eat your dinner in is acceptable imho.
It wasn't a complaint, it was more like part justification for why they are so good. Most of the ones in Bavaria seemed to be run by some external company it seemed.
most of the (spotless) German autobahn services have loos maintained by Sanifair.
All in German and English, but people still get confused by the token/voucher 😉