OV9

Following Gavster's post

Gavster wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2024 12:41 pm Best UK service station stand up gag

which one's your favourite, and why?

It doesn't have to be on a motorway, "The services thread" might have gone off on too much of a tangent.

The one with the tower up the M6. It's just as bad as most services but the tower is cool. Forton I think it's called. Also quite like Watford Gap for that historic vibe.

Dislike Bridgwater, Strensham, any where there's only one services on a roundabout serving both carriageways.

Jobbo wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2024 2:58 pm The one with the tower up the M6. It's just as bad as most services but the tower is cool. Forton I think it's called.

Forton indeed, just short of Lancaster, my alma mater. So although I've driven past it umpteen times I don't think I've ever visited; it was always too close to the start (or end) of my journey to be worth stopping.

https://motorwayservices.uk/History:Lancaster





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M6 Tebay has a farm shop, and is probably less hateful than most. In fact I can't have a favourite, just a least hated. Their focus on extracting the urine in terms of £pricing means I try very hard to provide them with that substance only.

Don’t go to them since having kids, only times I’ve had to is with the dog/dogs if they need to stretch their legs and I’ve been too lazy to find somewhere better.

I only use them for work if I desperately need fuel as I’m not paying for it.

They all suck plums.

Dave!

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2024 3:17 pm

That's it - any service area which has art prints of it must be cool.

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2024 3:17 pm

Jobbo wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2024 2:58 pm The one with the tower up the M6. It's just as bad as most services but the tower is cool. Forton I think it's called.

Forton indeed, just short of Lancaster, my alma mater. So although I've driven past it umpteen times I don't think I've ever visited; it was always too close to the start (or end) of my journey to be worth stopping.

https://motorwayservices.uk/History:Lancaster
.



https://space-play.co.uk/products/mini- ... sTNF_5nHBD





https://www.wearedorothy.com/products/l ... 8RW2HJKId8

We used to stop at the Burger King there on our way to Alton Towers

Gloucester services northbound has gone down the list: https://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/ ... -services/

I do like some of the old, tiny service stations on A-roads for their totally backwards vibe. I also began to compile a list of service station names for a "Is it the name of a cheese or a UK service station" game on social media.

I like a wee rural truck stop with a manky cafe and ancient pool table tbh.

Hang on, I thought we were all supposed to be stopping for at least 30 mins and a full three course meal every couple of hours of driving?

I don’t think I have a favourite. Any with decent access and parking, clean toilets and don’t need a map to find them are fine with me.

Also if we're doing best international too, I have a soft spot for Bar Taurus in Poland, they serve great food. Available across southern Poland.

Jobbo wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2024 2:58 pm Dislike any where there's only one services on a roundabout serving both carriageways.

Aye, they're irritating.

International services are welcomed

Reasons for liking can be the services themselves, what the visit represented (e.g. a waypoint on a holiday, last stop before home when working away, etc).

V8Granite wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2024 3:35 pm Don’t go to them since having kids, only times I’ve had to is with the dog/dogs if they need to stretch their legs and I’ve been too lazy to find somewhere better.

I only use them for work if I desperately need fuel as I’m not paying for it.

That's a plus point for Tebay (northbound at least), they've a secure area of decent size and some good walkways to go for a wander on with picturesque views, all shrouded from the motorway well enough to forget it's there.

A couple of weeks ago I went past a fuel station on the A2 at Gillingham and then Farthing Corner services a couple of miles away on the M2. The services were 30p/l more expensive.

I love stopping at Motorway services - I think it's largely because I associate them with holidays as a child which were incredibly positive, and even now as an adult they've always got a positive association as it's because I'm holidaying, or visiting a friend, or picking up cars.

The Westmorland chain (Tebay, Gloucester and... ah... the other one) are all very good. Not for the overpriced tat in the farm shop but the restaurant serves decent food (my days of KFC as a guilty pleasure are over).

Mrs Newt has very particular toilet requirements and, as a lot of motorway services have toilets that look like someone died in them (and that someone was the person responsible for cleaning them) we have to be careful. Modern-ish ones tend to make the grade, but she has had harsh words about Blyth most recently.

nuttinnew wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 8:59 am https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/lif ... F9ItWulUKg

Worryingly accurate. I stopped at Rugby the other day and it is very good, although the children's play area turned into a scream amplifier and ruined my enjoyment of my Pret.

Beaconsfield is not half bad but I stayed there for a cumulative month over the last year (work in the area and the hotel is inexpensive) and the mobile reception is appalling.

Stopped at rugby services last week and was impressed. Felt very clean and modern. Huge Tesla charging array on the way in too.

No problem with screaming kids, it was about 730am on a Sunday.

Always wondered how Rugby compares to the newer Gloucester or Beaconsfield setups, anyone done a full tour of the “nice” ones lately? I still have trauma from Watford Gap circa 2004, so I’m cautious by nature

I think it's Membury which has some nice grass banks visible from the food seating area - certainly it's somewhere on the M4 on that stretch between Bristol and Newbury. I remember looking out at rabbits nibbling the grass on there in early 1999 and thinking it was like Tellytubby Land.