Chelmsford services
A12 at J19
(also accessible to traffic on the A130, A138 and the B1137)
Signposted from the road.
CM2 5PY
map and directions
Single site located at a junction..
The Boreham Interchange is a complicated mess surrounded by retail parks, supermarkets and new pubs, and one of these compromises a service area.
Facilities
Catering: McDonald's Drive Thru Amenities: Children's Play Area, Showers, Toilets : Premier Inn Template:Charging points Forecourt: BP, M&S Simply Food, Wild Bean Café, Air1 AdBlue, Car Wash, Jet Wash
Parking Prices
Ample parking is available for all vehicles.
First 2 hours free, after which cars must pay £4 per 24 hour period and HGVs, caravans and motorhomes must pay £11 per 24 hour period.
Prices can be paid in the forecourt. The fees are strictly enforced by CP Plus.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
Chelmsford Service Area
Colchester Road
Springfield
Chelmsford
Essex
CM2 5PY
Trivia and Design
Although most sources call it Chelmsford service area, the official name is Boreham service station.
Unusually, this place still has a separate toilet block. These used to be common at A-road service areas, but most have since been moved into the main building to encourage custom and make cleaning easier.
Note that there is a second Premier Inn positioned on the opposite side of this junction. Confusingly, that one takes the Boreham name, while this one is demoted to Springfield.
History
The Chelmsford Bypass (including this awful junction) was built on the cheap in 1986. Space was left in the middle of it for a service area, which came a few years later.
As early as 1986, Hambros Bank made a planning application to develop this land and the cattle market next door. Their project included a hotel, petrol station, restaurant and fast food outlet. Permission was granted but not taken forward.
The main planning application was put forward by Mobil in 1989, and used broadly the same layout as what is there today, with land allocated to a fast food restaurant, motel, Mobil's petrol station and 40 HGV parking spaces. The petrol station had a small block at the back with toilets and payphones, while the HGV parking area had a building allocated to the RAC. These were both moved to their current positions before being built.
Mobil described it as an "experiment", as this site was designed to be able to easily handle HGVs, whereas most other A-road services were too small and tight. The concept included a hut which could be leased to an independent caterer, with the vision being that drivers would pay the caterer a fee to use the showers.
In late 1989 Esso also made a plan to build here. Their layout was very similar, but they had a hotel, restaurant, shop and toilets all combined into one single-storey building. Esso soon withdrew their plan. They did not mention who would have run their restaurant: Esso had been known to work with Granada, but this particular proposal probably wasn't far enough advanced to consider such detail.
The McDonald's opened in about 1992, and the hotel opened as a Travel Inn in about 1994.
The petrol station changed from Mobil to BP in around 2001 at which point the site started to be referred to as Boreham. In 2003, the filling station gained a Wild Bean Café and was later joined in 2007 by a M&S Simply Food store.
Alternatives
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| Brentwood (14 miles) | Services on the A12 | Feering (northbound, 12 miles) Colchester (22 miles) |