Decker Dave's Dreadful Services Blog (Index at the top of Page 1)

[Pieman]

This thread has reminded me that the last time I visited Peterborough services was to clean up having just shit myself while driving, after coming down with a bout of diarrhoea just before a long journey.   Have never dared go in there since.

As for Tibshelf, I had probably the most rubbish McDonald's I've ever eaten in there (northbound) and also the place was filthy with litter everywhere.  Haven't been back there either.

[fairkens]

When I did a lot of driving between Coventry and t'North a few years back Tibshelf was my favourite if in need of a pee as it was always dead and pretty clean.

There was also a wimpy there, long after they'd gone off the high street

[davidfowler2000]

Myself and @Inspector Morose are on a two night trip for reconnaisance for our "Grim" project in Weston-Super-Mare which has allowed a couple of more new stops and one more to follow on the way back so let's begin...

Strensham
Location: M5
Type: One on each side. No link bridge. Roadchef
Petrol Station: BP
Hotel: Days Inn (Northbound only)
Business Lounge: Regus Express (Northbound only)
Pros: Nothing special
Cons: Southbound car park access is a pain
Comments: This one felt like a 1980s shopping centre that had been done up in the early 2000s. We only done southbound so that's where my comments will come from. There were two big sit-in Costa outlets and one of them was "Temporarily Closed". Other options were Leons, a noodle place, McDonalds and a Spar of all places instead of the usual WH Smith. Not offensive but not entirely pleasant just a very neutral feeling. The oddest thing was a branch of Cotton Traders next to the toilets which also sold Guiness merchandise. The exit southbound is via a roundabout to the M5 / M50 and seeing the roundabout only has motorways coming off it, it makes it one of the very rare occasions where you get a roundabout entirely under motorway regulations. It even has a hard shoulder. The services are not accessible from the M50 though.

RATING
5/10 not great but not terrible.

Gloucester
Location: M5
Type: One on each side. No link bridge. Westmorland Group.
Petrol Station: Esso
Hotel: None
Pros: Westmorland so high quality. Very eco friendly building. Open plan everything. Very large farm shop
Cons: Very busy. The car park is much easier to get in to than out of.
Comments:One of only 3 Westmorland services on the motorway network, this one is referred to by The SVM™ as Tebay South along with Regular Tebay / Tebay Central and Tebay North (Cairn Lodge / Happendon). It is also referred to as TeletubbyTebay being that the building is built in to a hill, it 's under some ground anyways so it looks like the Teletubbies' house. It's pretty standard Westmorland with a farm shop and eatery and is standard very expensive. I will maintain that all the Tebays *ARE* better than other services but not for the prices they charge. The car park on this is huge (again southbound only experience) because it's so busy. You'll hear people talk about Glouscester service as being unique when they clearly don't know about the other Tebays and when you see them at the site, it looks like they've all come dressed for the occasion. The car park comes at you very quickly but it's at the far end of the car park from the main building so you have to take amuch longer drive to get out than to get in.

RATING
7/10 Nice environment. Just another, bigger Tebay.

[chaseracer]

Tradition/charter/something... 😁

Travel safe, chums - sorry I couldn't make this one.

[hairnet]

the lengths the sctsch will go to to find a doppleganger tebay

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I must admit that if we're in that part of the country, I try and persuade my other half that we should go to Gloucester services.  But if we're peckish, I let her go in first with her credit card while I sit in the car with the dog.

[Metal Guru]

11 hours ago, davidfowler2000 said:

Myself and @Inspector Morose are on a two night trip for reconnaisance for our "Grim" project in Weston-Super-Mare which has allowed a couple of more new stops and one more to follow on the way back so let's begin...

Strensham
Location: M5
Type: One on each side. No link bridge. Roadchef
Petrol Station: BP
Hotel: Days Inn (Northbound only)
Business Lounge: Regus Express (Northbound only)
Pros: Nothing special
Cons: Southbound car park access is a pain
Comments: This one felt like a 1980s shopping centre that had been done up in the early 2000s. We only done southbound so that's where my comments will come from. There were two big sit-in Costa outlets and one of them was "Temporarily Closed". Other options were Leons, a noodle place, McDonalds and a Spar of all places instead of the usual WH Smith. Not offensive but not entirely pleasant just a very neutral feeling. The oddest thing was a branch of Cotton Traders next to the toilets which also sold Guiness merchandise. The exit southbound is via a roundabout to the M5 / M50 and seeing the roundabout only has motorways coming off it, it makes it one of the very rare occasions where you get a roundabout entirely under motorway regulations. It even has a hard shoulder. The services are not accessible from the M50 though.

RATING
5/10 not great but not terrible.

Gloucester
Location: M5
Type: One on each side. No link bridge. Westmorland Group.
Petrol Station: Esso
Hotel: None
Pros: Westmorland so high quality. Very eco friendly building. Open plan everything. Very large farm shop
Cons: Very busy. The car park is much easier to get in to than out of.
Comments:One of only 3 Westmorland services on the motorway network, this one is referred to by The SVM™ as Tebay South along with Regular Tebay / Tebay Central and Tebay North (Cairn Lodge / Happendon). It is also referred to as TeletubbyTebay being that the building is built in to a hill, it 's under some ground anyways so it looks like the Teletubbies' house. It's pretty standard Westmorland with a farm shop and eatery and is standard very expensive. I will maintain that all the Tebays *ARE* better than other services but not for the prices they charge. The car park on this is huge (again southbound only experience) because it's so busy. You'll hear people talk about Glouscester service as being unique when they clearly don't know about the other Tebays and when you see them at the site, it looks like they've all come dressed for the occasion. The car park comes at you very quickly but it's at the far end of the car park from the main building so you have to take amuch longer drive to get out than to get in.

RATING
7/10 Nice environment. Just another, bigger Tebay.

Only stopped at Gloucester services once. The reason remember it was a loud brassy women marching through the foyer, shouting down her phone “well there must be another Cambridge!”

And there is. A little village a few miles from Gloucester services. I presume her “meet”, was at the slightly more famous university town on the other side of the country.

[davidfowler2000]

One more from the holiday*...

Michaelwood
Location: M5
Type: One on each side. Link bridge. Welcome Break
Petrol Station: BP
Hotel: Days Inn (Northbound only)
Pros: Big car park. Nice area being nestled in beside the wood
Cons: Car park is confusing. Amenities building is large but feels claustrophobic. No signs for the exit.
Comments: Stopped here for a tea and a toilet stop. Northbound visit. Nice feel about the place as it's far enough off the M5 that you can't see it and it's next to a nice wooded area giving it a countryside feeling. The car park was plenty big when we visited with loads of free spaces. Toilets at the fucking back as usual. Starbucks outlet and machines was the standard fare for hot beverages so naturally we opted for Subway for tea and coffee. The exit to the car park was a bit hit and miss... we just pointed in the rough direction of the way out.

RATING
6/10 Not terrible. Been worse places.

[davidfowler2000]

A somewhat random day out with FAITHER_df2k in his Golf to do a mission. It just had to be done didn't it...

Blackburn with Darwen
Location: M65 / Mary Leaver Way, Darwen
Type: One site up the road from  a junction. Extra
Petrol Station: Shell
Electric Car Charging: Ionity
Hotel: Travelodge
Pros: Not much. Spose it beats going in to town. Free to use microwave.
Cons: In an industrial estate. Feels smaller than it probably is
Comments: This one was chosen as a stop for a McD's. The amenities building has a very strong feel of "Was something else and has been taken over". Give my previous, but limited, experience with "Extra" branded sites this one feels nothing like them and the inside of the amenities feels very much like a shopping centre food court from the 1990s. Usual McD's, chopstix, Costa etc - much less choice than a full on Extra site - and being in an industrial estate made it just feel like it was something that was there before the motorway and was conveniently there when the signs were put up - something along the lines of Bridgwater Services but not as extreme. Extra points for a free to use microwave oven just outside McD's.

RATING
5/10. Nothing bad really to say but not much good either

[davidfowler2000]

I've been on the move again. Wasn't expecting to be down this way with @Inspector Morose so soon but here we go...

Sedgemoor
Location: M5
Type: One on each side. No link bridge. Welcome Break (Northbound), Roadchef (Soutbound).
Petrol Station: Welcome Break (Northbound), Shell (Southbound)
Electric Car Charging: Gridserve
Hotel: Days Inn (Northbound only)
Pros: It's not Bridgwater. Wood planked ceiling immediately in the front door.
Cons: Not much. Small.
Comments: Northbound review only. The first services I've been to where each side is owned / operated by different companies.  It's a small affair and the amenities building is very pokey inside but I gather it's not horrendously busy. Feels like a bit of a frontier being the services immediately south of the exits for Weston-Super*-Mare so it's either the first or last services for folk heading to / from Devon and Cornwall. As stated, it's not Bridgwater which is a major bonus.

RATING
5/10. Fairly plain. Does the job.

Severn View
Location: M48
Type: One site at a junction. Moto
Petrol Station: BP
Electric Car Charging: Gridserve
Hotel: Travelodge
Pros: Severn Bridge Viewpoint. High levels of grim.
Cons: Very small. Entire site is run down.
Comments: This one is quite special in that the current services occupies part of the site of an older, much larger service station which still exists. I'll link below to the page on Motorway Services Online and you can read it at your leisure. Suffice to say this one is definitely worth a visit. I've also included a 1999 aerial view from Google Earth below showing the transition from the old site which is still operation. The new site occupies what was mostly the truck parking and the petrol station. As a service station today, it's actually a bit shit - the facilities are small, allegedly one of the smallest on the motorway network and it's quite far back off the motorway. The old site was a major affair when it was just the old Severn Bridge but when the new bridge opened the traffic flows decreased sharply so keeping the old services going was uneconomical so it was scaled back to what we have today. The shitness is greatly balanced out by the fact you can still access the viewpoint by crossing the old abandoned site.

Motorway Services Online Article:
https://motorwayservices.uk/Severn_View

RATING
8/10. Worth a visit just to see the desolation of the site as a whole.

[davidfowler2000]

I went on holiday and went to a new services. What a time to be alive!

Toddington
Location: M1
Type: One on each side. Moto
Petrol Station: BP
Electric Car Charging: Nomad 22KW on both sides. Gridserve up to 350KW Northbound, 120KW southbound.
Hotel: Travelodge
Pros: Large site. Lots of amenities. Awesome link bridge. Tremendous 60s architecture. Southbound exit to the motorway has you driving *UNDER* the amenities building.
Cons: Old site. Run down car park. I can imagine it can get very busy.
Comments: This is an old site, one of the original 5 services to be built. Opened in 1962 by Granada, it was their head offices until 2001 when the site was taken over by moto. It is also where the last branch of a Little Chef on the motorway closed in 2010. I only visited southbound - the layout seemed decent, the car park and way out was a bit of a round about effort but the exit under the building is tremendous. The link bridge connecting both sides is open topped, made of concrete, and the barrier is at waist height. I need to revisit this one and have a proper nose about. We bypassed Watford Gap and Newport Pagnell (another 2 of the original 5) to go here for a tea. Plus the motorway was at a stand JUST after Toddington due to a smash. Glad we did.

Some pictures may be stolen from other sites.

RATING
7/10. Old but very interesting*. Shall revisit some day.