A350 at Malmesbury Road Roundabout
Signposted from the road.
SN14 6UY
map and directions
Single site located at a junction.
This is the main service area on the Chippenham Bypass, not to be confused with the Chippenham Pit Stop.
Sat at the end of the Chippenham Bypass, close to the M4, is one of the last-remaining Burger Kings in this area.
Facilities
Catering: Cepen Park Brewers Fayre, Burger King, Greggs Amenities: Premier Inn, Children's Play Area, Tourist Information Sign Outdoor Space: No grass space; Children's Play Area Forecourt: BP, M&S Simply Food, Wild Bean Café, Car Wash, Free Cash Machine
Parking Prices
Short stay customer parking is available for cars at all facilities. 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:
Par Drive
Chippenham
Wiltshire
SN14 6UY
Trivia and History
This service area was developed as part of Crest Homes Plc's major Cepen Park residential development in the early 1990s. As part of the works, the Chippenham Bypass was created to the west on the town, diverting traffic away from the town centre.
The bypass was completed in the early 1990s. Forte planned a Little ChefHistory restaurant, which was opened by Granada in around 1998 with an enclosed Burger King franchise. It was their newest generation of prefabricated building design, with what they called a "traditional look" and a fast construction time. This was built alongside Esso filling station.
Following the opening of the service area, Whitbread opened one of their Travel Inn hotels and a Brewsters restaurant on the adjacent land in early 2001. This created the unusual situation where the service area is connected to the main road at two (now three) separate junctions. The presence of the care home in the middle of the facilities is a unique feature of this service area.
Developments
The forecourt was redeveloped in 2005, becoming one of Esso's On the Run sites with a Costa Coffee offering. The forecourt was sold to Rontec in March 2015, who rebranded the store to their Shop'N Drive store and replaced the Costa Coffee counter with a Subway store.
The forecourt was then sold to BP in March 2016 who converted the site to one of their BP Express sites, reopening on 7 April 2016 with a M&S Simply Food store and Wild Bean Café concession.
Strangely, only one totem pole advertising any of the facilities at the site was erected at the entrance. This created another unusual situation where the Little Chef and Burger King were advertised on the bottom of Esso's MID sign. Little Chef remained advertised on the sign until it was changed in 2018.
The Little Chef soldiered on with its Burger King until July 2016, when Little Chef decided to close their restaurant but keep the Burger King. The former kitchen was hidden behind a partition and the former dining area was adopted by Burger King.
The restaurant building was sold to Euro Garages in January 2017. Unlike the Little Chefs included in the deal, this Burger King fit perfectly into their estate, so nothing changed until October 2018. This was when the space was filled by a Greggs store. The Burger King was moved towards the centre of the building utilising the former Little Chef kitchen space.
The site previously included a Chargemaster electric vehicle charging point situated in the Little Chef car park. Since the closure of the Little Chef, the charging point was neglected and has now been removed.
Alternatives
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| Chippenham Pit Stop (3 miles) | Services on the A350 | Warminster (21 miles) |