Birchanger Green services
CM23 5QZ
map and directions
Single site located at a junction.
A single service area located at an extremely busy roundabout at the exit for Stansted Airport.
Facilities
Catering: Burger King, Chopstix Noodle Bar, KFC, Pret A Manger, Starbucks, Subway, Taco Bell, The Good Breakfast, f'real Milkshakes, Jolly Rancher Slush, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks on the Go, Starbucks Drive Thru Shops: Little Waitrose & Partners, Top Gift, WHSmith Amenities: Days Inn, Ramada, Changing Places, Game Zone, Revolution Laundry, Showers Outdoor Space: Grass areas to left of hotel and right of building Charging Points: Applegreen Electric 180kW CCS; GRIDSERVE Electric Highway 50kW CCS, 50kW CHAdeMO & 22kW Type 2; Tesla Supercharger 250kW Forecourt: Shell, The Phat Pasty Co., f'real Milkshakes, Krispy Kreme, Rollover, Starbucks on the Go
Parking Prices
First 2 hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £15 for a further 24 hours and HGVs, caravans and coaches must pay £38 (or £39.50 to include a £12 meal voucher).
Prices can be paid in the shop or by using Evology Parking. The location code is 79397.
The fees are strictly enforced by ParkingEye.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
Birchanger Green Service Station
Dunmow Road
Bishop's Stortford
Essex
CM23 5QZ
- 🌍 Official Welcome Break/Birchanger Green website
- Facebook Page
- Foursquare Page
- 📞 Telephone number: 01279 653388
- 📌 what3words: ///mason.alert.never
- more map options
Trivia and Design
See also: History:Birchanger Green
The service area is treated by many as an additional airport facility, as Birchanger Green offers two hours free parking compared to the steep parking charges within Stansted.
There is a new rival service area just a mile away on the A120, known as Stansted services, which is actually a group of facilities aimed at airport drop-off traffic which doesn't want to use the airport amenities. Consequently, Birchanger is signed to A120 traffic as if it were a tourist attraction. Traffic joining from Stansted Business Park gets directions to both service areas.
The large roundabout outside the service area has a long history of traffic issues. Despite some online rumour, the problem is with the roundabout at the exit. Welcome Break eventually placed large billboards apologising for the queues, but had to cover up their suggestion that a new exit would be built "in December 2018"; it seems unlikely that a new exit will be built any time soon.
Despite the traffic and the competition, Birchanger Green remains extremely popular. Welcome Break said it is their busiest site, while i-Media revealed in Easter 2024 that it's the fourth busiest motorway service area in the country.
When you drive in, the petrol facilities are offered before you reach the amenity building. Normally it's the other way round. Here, the car park is the very last option you get, which has caused some panic and confusion.
Both the service area and Birchanger village are entirely within modern Essex, although the nearby post town of Bishop's Stortford is in Hertfordshire. As a result, Birchanger is usually listed as being a Hertfordshire service area, a listing which has shades of old-fashioned postcode envy.
A new sci-fi film which is in production will be named 'Birchanger Green', after the service area. The main character works at a fast food restaurant in a motorway service area. The director, who previously worked in a service station, was inspired by the way these places have a "bright, clinical, synthetic nature" that clashed with "the deep dark void of night outside". It will be filmed elsewhere.
Brands
To take advantage of the nearby airport, the service area has two hotels: a Ramada next to the building (formerly 'Days Hotel'), and a Days Inn at the back. Both are marketed at airport customers: the Ramada, which claims to be the more upmarket of the two, has an on-site breakfast bar that Days Inn customers are welcome to visit.
Birchanger was used to trial the motorway network's only ever Sainsbury's store. The Sainsbury's Local store, which was a new venture for both them and Welcome Break, closed after six months.
Other motorway trials hosted here have included Tossed in May 2014 and Chopstix Noodle Bar in August 2016.
The WHSmith store underwent a refurbishment in January 2023, reopening on 6 February with new 'grab and go' offerings. The Starbucks store to the left of the entrance was then replaced with a new Pret A Manger store on 29 June 2023. Following this phase of refurbishment, Birchanger Green was awarded the title of "most improved" in the 2023 Transport Focus review, with its satisfaction score rising from 83% to 96%.
Eight Applegreen Electric chargers were added in October 2023, adding a third charging option for EV drivers here, with an additional 20 Tesla Superchargers also joining them in a new charging hub area at the back of the main car park.
The Chopstix Noodle Bar and The Good Breakfast offers were merged into a hybrid unit in November 2024, reopening on 14 November. This move was to make way for a brand new Taco Bell unit which launched on 10 December 2024.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| South Mimms (M25 west, 29 miles) Thurrock (M25 east, 30 miles) | Services on the M11 | Cambridge (A14, 32 miles) Fourwentways (A11, 20 miles) |
| none | Services on the A120 | Stansted (2 miles) |
| South Mimms (M25 west, 29 miles) | Welcome Break services | none nearby |
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