Motorway services discussion

[JamesT]

My local takeaway had a one or zero star rating a while back, but again was reinspected and is now five stars, so it does seem to happen, either they failed on a technicality or got a big boot up the backside.

When I've looked at ratings in the past, quite often it's the paperwork side that is dragging the score down. They're keeping everything clean, but they don't have a bit of paper with a schedule on it to show the inspector when they come round.

 

[styles]

When I've looked at ratings in the past, quite often it's the paperwork side that is dragging the score down. They're keeping everything clean, but they don't have a bit of paper with a schedule on it to show the inspector when they come round.

Which I can understand to an extent. Restaurants ought to be logging staff training, temperature checks, staff sickness, etc. It doesn't take an inordinate amount of time to once a day check the temperature of a fridge and write it down on a sheet with name/date/temp/signature. If a staff member is off sick with a vomiting bug, it's important to log the dates so you can establish when it's safe for them to return, etc.

Unless the record keeping is very poor though, I wouldn't expect a 1 or 2 star, and usually not a 3 star either.

 

[Blade Fisher]

I still haven't forgiven Tebay for not selling paracetamol in the shop in the main building, only the garage. Hence I have an issue with the idea of a farm shop rather than a practical newsagent type shop selling journey needs.

The food isn't that amazing either. Wetherspoons standard at three times the price.

Tebay is ridiculously expensive. Truck stop is better anyway.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Tebay is ridiculously expensive. Truck stop is better anyway.

Tebay “services” being a farm shop is a vanity project, in my opinion. A farm shop is beautiful and wholesome and healthy and fabulous sure, but what do people want from service stations? Quick hot filling food or a snack, perhaps a magazine, perhaps medicine, perhaps a drink. Organic carrots and freshly grown asparagus, and freshly butchered lamb chops are all very well until you realise you can’t do diddly squat with them until you’re back home in your own kitchen.

As a farm shop it works great, don’t get me wrong. But advertise it as that then. Not a service station. It should not be advertised as Tebay services and it should not be included on list of service stations signposted on the motorway. Any road signage should be brown as per tourist attractions, and should say Farm Shop, not Services.

I still haven't forgiven Tebay for not selling paracetamol in the shop in the main building, only the garage. Hence I have an issue with the idea of a farm shop rather than a practical newsagent type shop selling journey needs.

And this is exactly what I mean.

 

[GusB]

Tebay “services” being a farm shop is a vanity project, in my opinion. A farm shop is beautiful and wholesome and healthy and fabulous sure, but what do people want from service stations? Quick hot filling food or a snack, perhaps a magazine, perhaps medicine, perhaps a drink. Organic carrots and freshly grown asparagus, and freshly butchered lamb chops are all very well until you realise you can’t do diddly squat with them until you’re back home in your own kitchen.

Have you actually visited?

As a farm shop it works great, don’t get me wrong. But advertise it as that then. Not a service station. It should not be advertised as Tebay services and it should not be included on list of service stations signposted on the motorway. Any road signage should be brown as per tourist attractions, and should say Farm Shop, not Services.

If it provides fuel for the car and passenger and it's not far from the main route, why shouldn't it be classed as a service station? If it happens to provide something that's a bit more special than your average motorway services, so what?

 

[styles]

Tebay “services” being a farm shop is a vanity project, in my opinion. A farm shop is beautiful and wholesome and healthy and fabulous sure, but what do people want from service stations? Quick hot filling food or a snack, perhaps a magazine, perhaps medicine, perhaps a drink. Organic carrots and freshly grown asparagus, and freshly butchered lamb chops are all very well until you realise you can’t do diddly squat with them until you’re back home in your own kitchen.

Good job Tebay services sell quick hot filling food, snacks, magazines, medicine, and drinks.

They also happen to sell fresh meat and veg, and plenty of people clearly want it else they'd find it unprofitable and stop selling it.

As a farm shop it works great, don’t get me wrong. But advertise it as that then. Not a service station. It should not be advertised as Tebay services and it should not be included on list of service stations signposted on the motorway. Any road signage should be brown as per tourist attractions, and should say Farm Shop, not Services.

But it is a service station? As established above, it has everything you said you'd want in a service station.. and more.

And this is exactly what I mean.

What, that, like every other service station, you can't go into a restaurant and buy medicine? The Northop Hall services on the A55 has a Travelodge, a Greggs, a Starbucks, and a Shell. If you want paracetamol, you go to the Shell building, not Starbucks. Tebay's no different.

Can't believe there's this much animosity towards a service station which dares to have a kitchen cooking proper grub and a farm shop selling fresh produce.

 

[Noddy]

Tebay “services” being a farm shop is a vanity project, in my opinion. A farm shop is beautiful and wholesome and healthy and fabulous sure, but what do people want from service stations? Quick hot filling food or a snack, perhaps a magazine, perhaps medicine, perhaps a drink. Organic carrots and freshly grown asparagus, and freshly butchered lamb chops are all very well until you realise you can’t do diddly squat with them until you’re back home in your own kitchen.

As a farm shop it works great, don’t get me wrong. But advertise it as that then. Not a service station. It should not be advertised as Tebay services and it should not be included on list of service stations signposted on the motorway. Any road signage should be brown as per tourist attractions, and should say Farm Shop, not Services.


And this is exactly what I mean.

It is clearly advertised as a ‘FARMSHOP AND KITCHEN’ and has been for years.




(Two image shows signs on M6 for Tebay Services-site is identified as ‘Farmshop and Kitchen’)

Gloucester and Cairn Lodge are also signed exactly like this. No doubt the new services they are building in Cheshire will also be signed in the same way.

As others have pointed out Tebay and the other Westmorland sites sells exactly the same stuff (and more), including magazines and paracetamol, as other service stations. They provide facilities for motorway drivers to stop, use the toilet, refuel/charge etc 24/7, 365 days a year. In terms of folk wanting fast food if you want something really quick or a takeaway hot drink just use the counter (called the ‘Quick Kitchen’) which does stuff like breakfast baps and pies. But given the main kitchen is a buffet style it doesn’t exactly take long to get food. Many services used to offer buffet style meals before their operators decided to franchise everything.

Tebay services are definitely a victim of their own success (in terms of the capacity of the site) but Gloucester and Cairn Lodge have much less over crowding. Westmorland seem to be doing alright for a ‘vanity’ project.

 

[jon0844]

Seems like a perfectly valid 'services' as it offers all the services you'd need when driving (or on a coach trip etc). The facilities beyond the basics (fuel, toilets etc) are bonuses. You don't get to choose if it's a farm shop, McDonald's, Costa or Starbucks. It has what it has and you are free to drive on to the next one that has the shops you prefer.

 

[stuu]

My local newspaper is reporting that a farm shop has been opened at Sedgemoor Services on the M5, looks to be very similar sorts of produce to Gloucester services.

 

[Noddy]

My local newspaper is reporting that a farm shop has been opened at Sedgemoor Services on the M5, looks to be very similar sorts of produce to Gloucester services.

Bit of a shame it’s only taken 53 years to catch on!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Bit of a shame it’s only taken 53 years to catch on!

That's a bit unfair really. Would you have expected the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to open with 125mph running? What's the "53 years" in reference to?

 

[styles]

That's a bit unfair really. Would you have expected the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to open with 125mph running? What's the "53 years" in reference to?

It's 53 years since the Tebay services were created.

I rather imagine farm shops and proper grub instead of chain fast food outlets would've done pretty well across a lot of the motorway network 53 years ago. Little Chef did pretty well out of sit down main meals.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It's 53 years since the Tebay services were created.

I rather imagine farm shops and proper grub instead of chain fast food outlets would've done pretty well across a lot of the motorway network 53 years ago. Little Chef did pretty well out of sit down main meals.

But if every MSA was based on the Westmorland model back in 1972, do you not think there would have inevitably have been a "race to the bottom" as the operators tried to reduce costs? Was Tebay always operated in the way that it (and the other Westmorland sites) is today?

Little Chef was never any better than the canteen type restaurants found at regular services, they were successful because they were the only option for many years. Funny how they don't get tarred by the same brush as the "mainstream" MSA operators like Roadchef despite having a very similar operating model.

Then again, everyone seems nostalgic for the soggy BR Casey Jones burgers too. No accounting for taste, clearly!

 

[styles]

But if every MSA was based on the Westmorland model back in 1972, do you not think there would have inevitably have been a "race to the bottom" as the operators tried to reduce costs? Was Tebay always operated in the way that it (and the other Westmorland sites) is today?

I'm not suggesting every motorway service station should be a farm shop and decent food. I'm merely suggesting that had the Westmorland model been replicated elsewhere back in 1970, it would've been successful. After all, getting meat from a butchers and buying loose, non-shrinkwrapped vegetables was all the rage back then, and people certainly seemed to appreciate independent catering. Tebay started as a cafe where produce was locally-sourced. Ok it wasn't the size it is now, but the principles were the same.

Little Chef was never any better than the canteen type restaurants found at regular services, they were successful because they were the only option for many years. Funny how they don't get tarred by the same brush as the "mainstream" MSA operators like Roadchef despite having a very similar operating model.

I can't see how Roadchef is like Little Chef, given one rents out space and the other is a restaurant.

But anyway. Taking Gloucester Services as an example mentioned in this thread. What other service station on the M5 offers a 'canteen type restaurant'? My idea of a canteen is where the menu would rotate, your food would be served on plates with metal cutlery rather than in a bag/box, etc. The food at Little Chef might not have been great, the I don't think they're comparable to modern services.

For what it's worth, I don't consider M&S to be a replacement for a butchers counter in a farm shop either.

 

[yorksrob]

But if every MSA was based on the Westmorland model back in 1972, do you not think there would have inevitably have been a "race to the bottom" as the operators tried to reduce costs? Was Tebay always operated in the way that it (and the other Westmorland sites) is today?

Little Chef was never any better than the canteen type restaurants found at regular services, they were successful because they were the only option for many years. Funny how they don't get tarred by the same brush as the "mainstream" MSA operators like Roadchef despite having a very similar operating model.

Then again, everyone seems nostalgic for the soggy BR Casey Jones burgers too. No accounting for taste, clearly!

I miss canteen style food.

 

[Noddy]

What's the "53 years" in reference to?

Was Tebay always operated in the way that it (and the other Westmorland sites) is today?

Indeed as @styles says Tebay was opened in 1972, and yes it’s pretty much always operated on the principle of local, good quality food. Basically it exists because the government identified a need for a services on the new M6 in the area but the big operators didn’t bid for the site when it went out to tender. So the farm who owned the land put in a bid during a second tender and won, despite having no experience. Effectively it was an early diversification project. When it opened it was just a small cafe and fuel station and has grown fairly organically (excuse the pun) since then. Sarah Dunning is the chairperson of the Westmorland group and one of the daughters of the farmers who established it. Other family members are shareholders in group as well, and they still run the farm as well. Fair play to them for their entrepreneurial spirit and not just selling out.

 

[The exile]

I miss canteen style food.

Hear, hear!

 

[yorksrob]

Hear, hear!

Glad its not just me

 

[The exile]

Glad its not just me

I’d be fascinated to see how well the IKEA canteens would do at service stations- I suspect they’re probably loss leaders in the stores but they always seem popular!

 

[yorksrob]

I’d be fascinated to see how well the IKEA canteens would do at service stations- I suspect they’re probably loss leaders in the stores but they always seem popular!

I've never tried those, although I don't tend to go to Ikea very often.

For me, it's the idea of having the food in front of you and seeing what you fancy.

 

[jon0844]

I’d be fascinated to see how well the IKEA canteens would do at service stations- I suspect they’re probably loss leaders in the stores but they always seem popular!

Likewise Costco. Imagine £1.50 for a hot dog and refillable drink at a service station!!

 

[Blade Fisher]

Likewise Costco. Imagine £1.50 for a hot dog and refillable drink at a service station!!

Tebay is very expensive. But the main problem with MSAs is the absolutely terrible food on offer. For a while I was trucking both years ago and quite recently and the quality of what is on offer has deteriorated horrendously since I first did it in 1982. You get the same crap everywhere and at ridiculous prices. McD yuk ! Burger King yuk ! Now and then I dont mind a burger but I'm blowed if Im going to have one every darn day.

So after a while I look out for places that offer proper food. So on the WC going to Scotland J38 Services at Tebay (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH TEBAY SERVICES). It is open to all not just truckers. Route 74 near Lesmahagow that's good probably the best tbh but too close to home for me. Colsterworth Diner by the A1 is not bad. Recently completed a refurb. Cafe/truckstop at Blyth was ok too.

The other bugbear for MSAs with me was the absolutely piss poor shower/washing facilities. The record for me was 3 seconds a push at the services near Sittingbourne - absolutely horrible place. It is a disgrace. No i dont miss that side of it. It is why a lot of truckies now go six-wheeled kitchen/bed/cab. I just didnt want to live permanently in it!

 

[The exile]

Likewise Costco. Imagine £1.50 for a hot dog and refillable drink at a service station!!

Not everything at IKEA is that ridiculously cheap, though, so it may only be a few things that are loss leaders. “Bottomless” drinks at MSAs would probably in fact be a good selling point - not that many people would over exploit it for fear of the consequences in a traffic jam!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I’d be fascinated to see how well the IKEA canteens would do at service stations- I suspect they’re probably loss leaders in the stores but they always seem popular!

I always find it funny that some people will turn their nose up at the unfranchised canteen restaurant at a Motorway services, but will happily queue up with a tray at IKEA.

 

[yorksrob]

Tebay is very expensive. But the main problem with MSAs is the absolutely terrible food on offer. For a while I was trucking both years ago and quite recently and the quality of what is on offer has deteriorated horrendously since I first did it in 1982. You get the same crap everywhere and at ridiculous prices. McD yuk ! Burger King yuk ! Now and then I dont mind a burger but I'm blowed if Im going to have one every darn day.

So after a while I look out for places that offer proper food. So on the WC going to Scotland J38 Services at Tebay (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH TEBAY SERVICES). It is open to all not just truckers. Route 74 near Lesmahagow that's good probably the best tbh but too close to home for me. Colsterworth Diner by the A1 is not bad. Recently completed a refurb. Cafe/truckstop at Blyth was ok too.

The other bugbear for MSAs with me was the absolutely piss poor shower/washing facilities. The record for me was 3 seconds a push at the services near Sittingbourne - absolutely horrible place. It is a disgrace. No i dont miss that side of it. It is why a lot of truckies now go six-wheeled kitchen/bed/cab. I just didnt want to live permanently in it!

I can see your point.

I love a Maccy D or a Burger King, but if they're the only hot option on a regular journey, I'd soon get sick of them.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Jul 2025 ==

I always find it funny that some people will turn their nose up at the unfranchised canteen restaurant at a Motorway services, but will happily queue up with a tray at IKEA.

I'd definitely give Tebay a go, but I don't drive, so would rarely get the chance.

 

[signed]

But the main problem with MSAs is the absolutely terrible food on offer

It don't have to be that way really, I had a really good ribeye and greens for like 20€ at a sit-down restaurant in a services somewhere in northern Spain (don't know where though sadly).

But really, it makes no financial sense, most people won't stay for a sit-down (that may change with EV if the majority people want to charge up 100%, maybe something to engineer and pluck the services at the ideal place for that).

 

[styles]

Likewise Costco. Imagine £1.50 for a hot dog and refillable drink at a service station!!

The US does this, and it's pretty ridiculous. I have a photo somewhere of the soda cup the unlimited refills came with and it was nearly as tall as my head. It was something like $2, only a couple of years ago, and could be free refilled at any of that chain's gas stations. We bought it for the novelty, but with things like this you can see how obesity epidemics can run worse than the UK has.

 

[Russel]

Tebay “services” being a farm shop is a vanity project, in my opinion. A farm shop is beautiful and wholesome and healthy and fabulous sure, but what do people want from service stations? Quick hot filling food or a snack, perhaps a magazine, perhaps medicine, perhaps a drink. Organic carrots and freshly grown asparagus, and freshly butchered lamb chops are all very well until you realise you can’t do diddly squat with them until you’re back home in your own kitchen.

As a farm shop it works great, don’t get me wrong. But advertise it as that then. Not a service station. It should not be advertised as Tebay services and it should not be included on list of service stations signposted on the motorway. Any road signage should be brown as per tourist attractions, and should say Farm Shop, not Services.

I'm with you on this one, I've not used Tebay but I have used Gloucester, there is no denying it's a lovely place but I struggle to see it as a motorway services, to me it's a tourist attraction, early morning it's fine, but the rest of the day it's far too busy.

 

[signed]

We bought it for the novelty, but with things like this you can see how obesity epidemics can run worse than the UK has.

What is the state of free refills in the UK? Here in France, they have been banned for nearly 20 years (which makes a Five Guys drink litterally a scam, 6€ for one 50cl mix drink...)

 

[styles]

It don't have to be that way really, I had a really good ribeye and greens for like 20€ at a sit-down restaurant in a services somewhere in northern Spain (don't know where though sadly).

But really, it makes no financial sense, most people won't stay for a sit-down (that may change with EV if the majority people want to charge up 100%)

Yet all the service stations in the Westmorland group like Tebay and Gloucester services seem to do exceptionally well out of it?

I don't really buy that drivers in the UK don't want a sit down meal at motorway services. Yes, there are plenty of times and plenty of people who really do want to scoff down a McDonald's/BK burger and crack on with the drive, and we shouldn't try and replace every fast foot outlet with a canteen, but there's evidently appetite (ahem!) from some travellers for a better dining experience than Big Mac and fries in a paper bag.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Jul 2025 ==

I'm with you on this one, I've not used Tebay but I have used Gloucester, there is no denying it's a lovely place but I struggle to see it as a motorway services, to me it's a tourist attraction, early morning it's fine, but the rest of the day it's far too busy.

But how is it not a motorway services? It sells fuel, magazines, medicines, energy drinks, fast food, has EV charging, allows people to park for a couple of hours for a kip, has toilets, showers, etc. That is also happens to serve decent grub on proper plates with metal cutlery, and has a shop selling fresh produce, doesn't stop it being a services. And the fact that it's 'far too busy' surely suggests this is a motorway service people want?

I'm kind of amazed really that on this post we've set our sights so low that we consider fresh produce and a rotating food menu at a services stop 'vanity'.