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, Starbucks, Subway, The Good Breakfast, f'real Milkshakes, Krispy Kreme, Slush Puppie, Starbucks on the Go, Starbucks Drive Thru Shops: Little Waitrose & Partners, Top Gift, WHSmith Amenities: Days Inn, Ramada, Game Zone, Revolution Laundry, Showers Outdoor Space: Grass areas to left of hotel and right of building Charging Points: GRIDSERVE Electric Highway 50kW CCS, 50kW CHAdeMO & 22kW Type 2; Tesla Supercharger 120kW Forecourt: Shell, The Good Bakery, Chicago Town Pizza, f'real Milkshakes, 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 £36 (or £38 to include a £12 meal voucher).
Prices can be paid in the shop, with instructions in each car park. They 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
- 📞 Telephone number: 01279 653388
- 🗺 Grid reference: TL512215
- 📌 what3words: ///mason.alert.never
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 signs for both services.
The large roundabout outside the service area has a long history of traffic issues. Some visitors have argued this is to do with the road layout allowing anybody who missed the car park to go round again, but the traffic lights at the exit seem a more likely culprit.
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
A 77-bedroom "Days Hotel" was added alongside the existing 60-bedroom one as part of a £3m development. It was later re-branded to Ramada.
Tossed opened here in May 2014 - the first at a motorway service area. The same goes for Chopstix Noodle Bar, which opened in August 2016.
The WHSmith store underwent a refurbishment in January 2023, reopening on Monday 6 February with new grab and go offerings.
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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