Barton Mills services
A11 at Fiveways Roundabout
Signposted from the road.
IP28 6AE
map and directions
Series of sites arranged around a junction..
A confusing place if ever there was one. The Fiveways Roundabout at Barton Mills has three separate service areas, all with different facilities and different access arrangements. Let us try to break it down.
Facilities
Milford (Northbound)
The Milford site is only accessible to traffic on the A11 northbound. Signposts say that HGV access is not permitted, but HGV fuel pumps are available.
Catering: Temporarily closed Forecourt: BP, Shop 'n Drive, Costa Express, West Cornwall Pasty Co., AdBlue Containers, Jet Wash, Free Cash Machine
Fiveways Roundabout
Barton Mills Services
The entrance to the Barton Mills site is on the main roundabout. HGVs must exit onto the A11 southbound. Cars may exit back onto the roundabout. It is the main site advertised when travelling southbound.
Catering: Burger King, Greggs : Travelodge Forecourt: Esso, Londis, Subway, Stone Willy's Kitchen, Costa Express, F'real Milkshakes, Tango Ice Blast, AdBlue Containers
Fiveways Garage
The Fiveways site is accessible in all directions from the A1065. It is signposted from the A11 northbound, after Milford.
Catering: McDonald's Drive Thru Forecourt: Shell, Little Waitrose & Partners, Deli by Shell, Costa Express, AdBlue Containers, Jet Wash, Free Cash Machine
Parking Prices
All three sites provide short stay customer car parking.
There are no official HGV parking spaces, but HGVs do park on the roads through Barton Mills and Fiveways sites.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
A11 Millford Service Area
Fiveways
Barton Mills
Bury St. Edmunds
Suffolk
IP28 6AE
Trivia and Details
When travelling northbound on the A11, signposts refer to the Milford site. After this, some "Services" signs direct traffic to the Fiveways site. When travelling southbound on the A11, all signposts direct traffic to the Barton Mills site. On the A1065 and A1101 eastbound, the signposts direct traffic straight into the Fiveways site, while the A1101 westbound has no signposts at all!
To further confuse motorists, there is a Forestry Commission car park with toilets and a snack bar, positioned on the A1065 right by the entrance to the services. That is not an official service area and is the last we'll mention of it.
The three service areas don't just cater for motorists. The Milford site is also a large ambulance station, while the Fiveways site is also a tyre centre.
History
The roundabout was built in the 1960s, with two garages. The first was on the A11 northbound, and is called Milford. The second was on the roundabout, and called Fiveways. It shared the land with properties named Chase End and Hargate.
The road was upgraded to a dual carriageway in 1986. At this point, Forte built a new Little ChefHistory, Little Chef Lodge and petrol station on the opposite side of the roundabout. The petrol station may have opened some time earlier. The main exit from this new development was a link road back onto the roundabout, but for convenience it was also possible to exit directly onto the A11 southbound.
The Milford site gained an AJ's Family Restaurant. At the time the forecourt was branded Fina. The AJ's became a second Little Chef in 1998, and the two Little Chefs operated as a pair. Confusingly, the Milford Little Chef was known to them as 'Barton Mills North'. The original Little Chef gained a Burger King.
In 2002, the original Little Chef became a Little Chef Choices, gaining a Harry Ramsden's and Caffe Ritazza. These were removed, and the Burger King was then replaced by Coffee Tempo!. At one point, the Milford Little Chef gained a takeaway service, but in 2012 it was closed as part of nationwide cutbacks. The filling station supplier changed from Total to Esso around this time.
Despite attempting to sell the unit, the southbound Burger King reopened in 2013.
In 2015, the Milford Little Chef building became home to the Pancake and Waffle Shack.
The southbound petrol station was Esso's last trunk-road site before it was sold to MRH in 2015. The shop was damaged by a severe fire in April 2017, thought to have started with an electrical fault in a refrigerator unit. The filling station was rebuilt during 2017 and early 2018 and reopened in May 2018 with a Hursts Grab & Go store. This was replaced in summer 2020 by Londis.
After Euro Garages purchased Little Chef, they were forced to change the restaurant to EG Diner. They closed the building in summer 2018, and reopened it later in the year with a Greggs and a refurbished Burger King.
Meanwhile, Fiveways Garage was largely unchanged. By the 21st century it had become Enterprise rent-a-car, Mildenhall Car Sales and a valet centre, still with the two properties and still in its old position right by the roundabout.
The land was demolished in 2013, and replaced with the new McDonald's and Shell. That offer was described as "phase 1", and opened in 2015, becoming the second service area for northbound traffic. "Phase 2" remains unclear, but Days Inn was named when the project was proposed in 2007.
Alternatives
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