Balhaldie services
A9 south-westbound between Dunblane and Perth
Signposted from the road.
FK15 0NB
map and directions
Single site located between junctions on one side of the road.
Positioned in the open plains north of Stirling, Balhaldie has history as one of Scotland's busiest service areas.
Facilities
Catering: Starbucks Drive Thru Outdoor Space: Unkempt grass verges only Charging Points: EV Point 150kW CCS; Shell Recharge 50kW CCS & 50kW CHAdeMO Forecourt: Shell, Select, Deli by Shell, Costa Express, Free Cash Machine
Parking Prices
Short stay customer parking is available for cars. No HGV parking is available.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
A9
Braco
Dunblane
Perth and Kinross
FK15 0NB
Trivia and History
The service area is built across the boundary between Stirling and Perth & Kinross authorities. This caused a problem with alcohol licensing, as Stirling Council granted the southbound restaurant a licence to serve alcohol in 1994, but Perth & Kinross did not do the same for the northbound side, with the unfortunate implication being that somebody who really wanted a drink would have to cross the road.
There was a building to the east of the A9 at Balhaldie which has been there a long time - probably an old Blacksmiths. This became a garage, and in 1965 the A9 was upgraded to a dual carriageway and an accompanying northbound petrol station was built here.
The southbound garage was later taken over by Little ChefHistory in the early 1980s, with plans to add a 40-bed Travelodge hotel on land behind it in 1994, but these plans were later withdrawn.
A new southbound petrol station was built behind the Little Chef, moving the whole site south a bit. It was known as 'Balhaldie filling station' and has a small parking area at the back, with a back door to the sales shop. The previous layout can still be made out by the shape of the car park at the north end, and the drainage line at the south end.
Despite all the problems the chain faced (and the unusual building it had inherited here), this branch managed to hang on to become the last Little Chef in Scotland. After Euro Garages took over it was one of the first to go, closing on 10 March 2017. It was due to reopen as a Greggs soon after but the only work that happened was that the building has been internally stripped out and now lays empty.
In April 2019, the fate of the unusual building was sealed as Euro Garages were granted planning permission to demolish the whole building and replace it with a new drive thru Greggs. A drive thru Starbucks, which was built on some land next to the car park, also opened on 24 May 2019, slightly hidden behind their other facilities. This project is now postponed given the break up of EG Group. Shell are seeking to build three more electric vehicle charging points, whilst EG Group added an EV Point charger to their Starbucks car park in early 2024.
Northbound Side
An additional northbound Little ChefHistory was built in January 1984 but closed in September 2012. It was extensively damaged in an arson attack in November 1990.
The building is a much more familiar 'small box'-style building. It was briefly replaced by Oliver's Grill and Diner, which opened in 2013 and closed less than six months after. The filling station closed here at some point too.
A Subway opened here on 22 May 2017, operated by Forbes Davidson. This closed in late 2022 and the building is now available to let.
Alternative Services
Trustees of Kippendavie Estate proposed what they called a "motorway service area" at Lady's Mount, close to Balhaldie, in 1993. No further detail is available.
GB Grove received planning permission to build a large north-eastbound service area, immediately west of the existing facilities, in 2019. This would have been called Kinbuck services. Plans showed a large lorry park, lakeside walk, two drive thru restaurant buildings, one sit-down restaurant building and a BP petrol station.
An additional restaurant, hotel and leisure building had all been removed from the plans. An earlier consultation caused more proposed buildings to be removed from the scheme. 58 electric vehicle charging points were proposed.
A legal challenge was then brought against the scheme, and the planning permission was revoked in September 2021. A number of objections had been received, including from Dunblane Community Council. Reasons given were that the A9 had a poor safety record, and that the proposal would detract from existing businesses. The timing of the decision was unfortunate, as it happened in the middle of the 2021 fuel crisis, during which a lot of people were talking about the lack of lorry parks being a major issue.
Alternatives
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