Starbucks Drive Thru unit at Warwick South, located opposite the car park, next to the Days Inn. This drive thru opened in December 2013, utilising a grass area. Drive Thrus have become increasingly popular at motorway services due to their convenience. Customers who are only interested in purchasing Starbucks products are able to do so from their car, preventing overcrowding of the amenity building & meaning customers can be served more quickly. As with most Welcome Break Starbucks drive Thrus, there’s customer seating inside. Some customers may use this Starbucks as an “overflow” to the lounge in the amenity building. This drive thru does not remain open throughout the night, meaning customers will have to use Starbucks on the go in WHSmith during the night. Welcome Break began opening Starbucks drive thrus in 2012, opening at Fleet North and Membury East first, utilising smaller disused buildings. Starbucks drive thru was rare to find elsewhere in the UK at the time. Since 2012, Roadchef began opening Costa drive thru kiosks in 2016 and in 2017, Moto started doing the same. So although the other operators have copied Welcome Break’s idea of coffee drive Thrus, Welcome Break still stand out for providing Starbucks, and not Costa. Starbucks’s prices are set by the franchisee, and at Welcome Break sites, this tends to be heavily inflated, potentially putting customers off. However, Starbucks’s high recognisability in the UK means customers know what they are getting, & will may choose the brand through familiarity. The building itself is tidy & clean. Nicely maintained. Building coffee drive Thrus at Warwick was beneficial as customers don’t need to negotiate a junction in order to access the site. Starbucks drive thru was surprisingly quiet during my visit despite the large amounts of customers at the site. The lounge itself was busier, no one was making use of the drive thru lane. Starbucks is signposted from the M40 Southbound as a drive thru, so customers can expect to find this facility here. There’s also plenty of road directions and advertisement for this drive thru, so customers know where it is and when it’s open.

Photo taken on 24/06/2024 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Warwick, Welcome Break, M40, Starbucks Drive Thru