When stopping at a service station, you never know what you’re going to get. Will it be a lacklustre collection of cafés and shops, including a WHSmith, gambling station and a Starbucks if you’re lucky? Or will you hit the jackpot, getting to take your pick of roadside sustenance from McDonalds, M&S, Pret and a locally-sourced farm shop?
Now Which? has revealed its 2025 ranking for the best, and worst, motorway services in Britain. According to the consumer company’s report, the UK’s worst rated stops are ‘filthy’ and smell of pee. Grim. But the best ones have been praised for their cleanliness, outdoor spaces and quality food offerings.
The best service station in Britain is... Gloucester Services on the M5. This family-run spot has no big chain restaurants, and is instead home to a farm shop with locally sourced produce and a kitchen cooking meals from scratch, including ‘hearty meat and veg dinners to lunchtime flatbreads and vegan pancakes’.
The stop between junctions 11A and 12 on the M5 scored 85 percent with customers in the Which? survey. According to Which?: ‘[Gloucester Services] is easy on the eye – seemingly built into the hill and overlooking a lake. People who live nearby told us they visit just to walk the dog, fill up or charge the car, and to shop. “From the fresh sourdough to the funky clothes, there’s always something that takes my fancy,” we were told.’
Gloucester was rated five stars in several categories including shops, food and drink, facilities, cleanliness, convenience and accessibility, and outside space.
Britain’s worst rated stop however was the Moto Bridgewater services in Somerset, which had a 23 percent customer score and one-star ratings across all categories. According to Which? it would be better to visit literally any other services in the country, as at Bridgewater you will be greeted with facilities that ‘look and feel filthy’ and toilets that ‘smell of stale urine’.
Britain’s 10 best motorway services according to Which?
- Gloucester
- Tebay
- Rugby
- Cairn Lodge
- Leeds Skelton Lake
- Norton Canes
- Killington Lake
- Annandale Water
- Beconsfield
- Donington
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