Motorway Services Online

We need accurate page names to help people find the page, especially for features like the photo galleries. This page lists some of the more contentious names, and explains the reasoning behind them.

Nobody is expected to learn these off-by-heart, but it's good to have a record to refer to.

Brand Names

Page	Debate	Conclusion
AJ's	AJ's Family Restaurants	Officially it should use the full name, but that's a bit eponymous. Only use the full name where people might not know what it is.
Asda On the Move	ASDA On the Move	The business is called Asda, but they write the logo as ASDA. Most other sources are happy to use mixed case. EG Group themselves call it "Asda on the Move", and they should know, seeing as they created it.
BP and BP Pulse	bp pulse	In page text, it should be written as BP / BP Pulse, because it is still a pronoun (and they do still trade as BP PLC). It can be stylised in lower case, as they like to do, in facility lists an page headings.
Chopstix Noodle Bar	Chopstix	They usually write it out in full, so we will too, but there's an argument that the shortening would be easier and just as valid.
Costa	Costa Coffee	They used to insist on just being called "Costa", but now they are switching back to using the full name. "Costa" is still an acceptable shortening but we might have to rename the page.
f'real		They write their name like that.
BookAPod	Book A Pod	They write their name as one word.
Harry Ramsden's	Harry Ramsden	They still write it with an apostrophe, even if they don't draw it like that.
Ibis and Ibis Budget	ibis and ibis budget	As these are just Accor brand names, there is no official record to turn to, so really we ought to go with their lower case styling, even though it looks silly.
Jet	JET	Was originally Jet Petroleum. Wikipedia still calls it Jet, as do most people. JET always call themselves JET. Question is whether we want capitals in page names.
Leon	LEON	Its official title is Leon Restaurants Limited (in mixed case), which is what Wikipedia uses. Their website uses LEON as the brand name and Leon Restaurants as the company name. No objection to putting it in capitals, which is what Roadchef do too. Don't use the full stop on the end though.
Phat Pasty Co	The Phat Pasty Co.	They call themselves "Phat Pasty Co" (sometimes just "Phat Pasty") in most cases, so we can do that in prose. For facility lists and infoboxes we can copy the styling, which is 'The Phat Pasty Co.'.
PizzaExpress	Pizza Express	Their website shows it as one word.
Roadchef	RoadChef	It has been one word since the early 2000s. RoadChef is only acceptable when writing about what the company did at the time.
Sainsbury's on the go	Sainsbury's On The Go	Very little has been written about this brand, but what EG Group have said, they have written as "Sainsbury's On the Go". The logo (which is all the public sees) shows it written in lower case. We should probably stick to Sainsbury's On the Go.
Starbucks on the go	Starbucks On The Go	Starbucks are very inconsistent. One official guide changes half way through! Starbucks don't seem to use the name very often.
SPAR	Spar	It is an abbreviation, and it's written everywhere in capitals, including all over their own website, Roadchef's website and Wikipedia. We should probably stick to capitals, although the brand page itself doesn't matter so much.
The Garden Square Deli	Garden Square Deli	The "The" is usually forgotten, even by Roadchef, but it is there in the name. Acceptable to drop the "The" to make a sentence easier to read.
M&S Simply Food, Caffè Ritazza, Full Hou$e, West Cornwall Pasty Co. etc	anything with punctuation	Page titles can't have punctuation or accents, which would cause all sorts of issues (although they can be used in redirects). The name should still be written correctly in text (although it's OK to do without full stops where they make the text hard to read). Dots and currency symbols should be dropped, "&" should be replaced by "and", puns like "Hou$e" should be written normally, accents should be ignored. Apostrophes are fine to use but they make URLs hard to type: there's a debate to be had about whether that's an issue.

Service Area Names

Now we're getting to the good stuff. This list doesn't include local nicknames, or old names that have clearly been retired.

Service Area	Debate	Ruling
Acre Hill	Eynsham	We would call it Eynsham, if it didn't already exist. We call it "Eynsham (Acre Hill)" instead.
Ardleigh South	Ardleigh	BP still publicly call it Ardleigh South services, but in documentation it's now shortened to Ardleigh.
Barnetby	Barnetby Top	Little Chef called it Barnetby Top, but MFG now own it and are very clear that it's just Barnetby.
Barthomley	Crewe	Most facilities call it Barthomley, including the forecourt.
Beechings Way	Gillingham, Cornwallis	Asda mostly use the name Gillingham-Cornwallis Roundabout; McDonald's use Beechings Way; Co-op used to use Cornwallis. Possibly a case for moving it because the current name is untidy.
Binley	Binley Woods	It always used to be Binley, but MFG call it Binley Woods.
Blue Bell Hill	Bluebell Hill	This is the most pedantic one on here, and we love it. Shell, the diner and Little Chef all call(ed) this place Bluebell, so there is definitely a case for changing it. The street name and village both have it as Blue Bell (mostly), so that's what people would expect to see it as. Google Maps has the village down as two words but OSM (which MSO uses) has it down as one, but with a link to a Wikidata profile, that spells it with two. Most OS maps had it as one word until the 1960s, when they changed to two. Road signs don't give this service area a name, but if they did, would they go with Shell's internal spelling, or the one which most people seem to be using? It probably isn't worth upsetting the neighbours over a space.
Bodmin Moor	Plusha	Both names are in use, but MFG calls it Bodmin Moor.
Braintree Electric		The correct name Braintree was already taken, so as this site isn't official, it takes a back seat. Can be written as "GRIDSERVE Braintree" in text.
Brentwood	Shenfield, Mountnessing	BP call it Brentwood, and that's all there is! If Moto Brentwood progresses, this page will have to shift. It could be "Brentwood (A12)", "Hillside" or "Mountnessing".
Buckingham	Mount Pleasant	The name 'Mount Pleasant' does appear on a lot of records, but they are all old. Shell just call it Buckingham.
Buckland	Cranford	Historically it was definitely Cranford, but current operator calls it Buckland.
Budbrooke	Warwick North	Forecourt operator calls it Budbrooke.
Chelmsford	Boreham	This one feels like it will never go away. BP call it "Boreham", and the council call it "Boreham (formerly Chelmsford)". You'd think that's pretty clear, but the sign at the entrance welcomes you to "Chelmsford service area" - so that's what the public knows it as! The sign appears to be owned by the landowner and was created in 2010 to replace an original direction sign.
Coastways	Shiptonthorpe	BP call it Coastways, and they are the main facility.
Colsterworth		Both sites should be called Colsterworth, but where the two might get mixed up, we call them "Colsterworth (North)" and "Colsterworth (Main)". For convenience, Colsterworth (Main) takes priority and rarely needs to be written in full.
Commerce Park		This is a business park name rather than a place name, but it's all we have to go on.
Deanshanger	Open Pastures	Esso and MFG call it Deanshanger. Open Pastures has been retired.
Derby South	Derby	Welcome Break have been calling it Derby online since 2010, and it has been called Derby on the ground since about 2006. Time for a change?
Donington	Donington Park	New road signs just call it Donington, so should we. "Donington Park" is acceptable when talking about the old name. Never "Donnington"!
Dumbarton Gateway	Milton, Gate	Main site is signed as Dumbarton Gateway, whatever the other names, which are a bit too vague anyway.
Dungannon	M1 Service Area	For ages we called it "M1 Service Area (Dungannon)". It looks like they've now moved towards branding it "M1 Dungannon", which is close to a normal name!
Evesham	Twyford	Co-op call it their Evesham branch, and Texaco go with that. *Everybody* else seems to call it Twyford, including InstaVolt and Costa. They might have the right idea, especially as it isn't the only Evesham services.
Four Pools		This one doesn't have a proper name, so we have used the name of the industrial estate. Perhaps it should be called Evesham, but there is already an Evesham (and that one is contentious too).
Fourwentways	Abington, Babraham, Four Went Ways	The junction is called Fourwentways, but that name is also used on signs. EG Group call it Abington, but that name already exists. Babraham is only used by occasional maps, while Four Went Ways is an old name only used by Shell.
Frontier Park	Whitebirk	BP and EG do call it Frontier Park, and that name is probably better known, even if it's a bit advertise-y.
Gretna	Gretna Green	New road signs just call it Gretna, so should we.
Heart of Scotland	Heart of Scotland (Harthill)	Road signs call it "Heart of Scotland (Harthill)", so we should write this wherever possible. Page name is shortened to make it easier to use. Acceptable to shorten it to just "Heart of Scotland" where appropriate.
Ingleby Arncliffe / Gristhwaite	Exelby	Widely known as Exelby, but that's the operator's name. Note that Gristhwaite southbound is called "Thirsk", but that would cause confusion.
King's Lynn	West Lynn, Freebridge	Forecourt calls it King's Lynn (with annoying apostrophe). The newer development is called 'Freebridge'. 'West Lynn' was a Little Chef thing.
Lancaster	Lancaster (Forton)	It is now just called Lancaster. Acceptable to use "Forton" when talking about history.
Mangrove	Blue Boar	Junction is called Blue Boar, forecourt is called Mangrove. "Blue Boar" would cause confusion anyway.
Markfield	Leicester Markfield	Road signs call it "Leicester Markfield", so we should do this on lists, but not in text where it could be confused with other Leicester sites.
Mayfield	J14 Mayfield	It promotes itself by the brand name, and it may be appropriate to use this in text, however for the page name we'll stick to just the location.
Midway Food Court	Midway	It's a bit eponymous, but just "Midway" would look strange.
Mile End	Oswestry	EG Group signage around the site called it Mile End, and they should know, they owned it! The individual brands do all call it Oswestry, which is a more precise name, but the on-site signage is clear.
Moneygall	Barack Obama Plaza	Moneygall used to be the service area name, and Barack Obama the brand name. That has changed, and we may be behind with that. For now write it as "Moneygall (Barack Obama Plaza)". This is different to the other Plazas, which all use place names. That said, Circle K still call it Moneygall too, and so do TII.
Moreton Bridge	Oswestry	We would call it Oswestry, if there wasn't two more of them. We call it "Oswestry (Moreton Bridge)" instead. There are many old names that are no longer used.
Mulhuddart	M3 Mulhuddart	We've taken the branding out, leaving just the place name.
Nene Valley	Ecton	Historic records and current owners call it Nene Valley.
Oldbury	Stonehouse / Fromeside	Shell call it Oldbury, which was the name made famous on maps, although locals tend to use other names. Does get confused with Oldbury near Birmingham.
Rothwell	Rothwell Lodge	Was known as Rothwell Lodge in planning, but Rothwell upon opening. Use "Rothwell Lodge" only to avoid confusion with Rothwell Truckstop.
Rushden	Sanders Lodge	Was called Sanders Lodge for a long time. Current owners call it Rushden. Consider bringing back Sanders Lodge name to avoid confusion with EG Rushden.
Saughall	Red Ensign	EG call it Saughall, and as they have the most facilities, they take priority. Red Ensign is a well-known name but only amongst locals.
Sedgemoor and Stafford		Both sides are called Sedgemoor or Stafford. The only time we use "Sedgemoor (North)" is where there could be confusion.
Sheffield Parkway	either/or	Historically was called Sheffield. Current owners call it Parkway. Page name was an early attempt to please both, and to avoid confusion with the failed Sheffield MSA plan. Arguably the Parkway name is too vague, so sticking Sheffield in there is still helpful. Be careful that references to Parkway may get confused with Rotherham MSA, too!
Swansea West	Swansea	Road signs still call it Swansea West, even if Moto normally shorten it. We should call it Swansea West.
Tiverton	Sampford Peverell	As Moto are so involved in the site, we should follow their lead and call it Tiverton.
Tunbridge Wells	Blue Boys	Road signs call it Tunbridge Wells, which trumps whatever BP call it. It is not "Tonbridge".
West Wellow	Ower	Historically was called Ower. Current owners call it West Wellow.
Weston-on-the-Green	Layby, Weston On The Green	The forecourt is called Layby, but that's just too generic a name for us. The coffee shop calls it Weston On The Green, as do EG Group on the other side, but as these aren't decisive sources, we'll use the official spelling.
Whitemare Pool	White Mare Pool	The pub and roundabout signs say it's three words. Little Chef, Shell, Travelodge, the bus stops and most other records say it's two. We will go with them.
Willington	Egginton	BP call it Willington, Harvest call it Egginton, this is a difficult one.
Winning Post	Haldon Hill	Historically was called Haldon Hill, but current owners call it Winning Post.
Winthorpe	Newark	Shell used to call it Winthorpe, but now they call it Newark. Newark was its old name too. But it clashes with the Welcome Break site.
Wittering	Super	Address is Super Service Station, according to Royal Mail and every planning application. MFG and Shell call it Wittering, which is a less confusing and more well-known name. Normally we would go with the address book, but this might be an exception.
Worksop	Dukeries	Forecourt is called Dukeries, but EG Group have more facilities and call it Worksop, which is also better known.
Wynyard Park	Wolviston	MFG call it Wynyard; BP call it Wynyard Park service area. Development is probably called Wynyard Park. Historically it has been known as Wolviston services.

Truckstops

This is pedantic, but consistency is always good in a database.

There is some confusion about whether "truckstop" or "lorry park" should be in the name of a page. Generally the answer is 'no', same as we don't put "services" or "rest area" in the name of a page. Keep it simple!

This leaves questions over:

• Rothwell Truckstop (clarity will always be needed because of Rothwell Lodge. You could ask if the capital is needed, but it does sell itself as Rothwell Truckstop)
• Rugby Truckstop (same)

Now, it gets really messy. The rule book says that "truckstop", "lorry park" and "services" should all be written in lower case. But, the owners often brand their sites with capitals (like "Cornwall Services" and "Penrith Truckstop"). We should copy the road sign rules on each site's page, but it's acceptable to copy the owner's branding when writing a generic page that happens to mention it.

Other Pages

The following pages don't affect anything of interest to the public, but they've been recorded here anyway.

Page	Conclusion
Template:Fulldetails	Now says "see also" rather than "full details". Could be changed, but there's no real need.
Template:Garden Square Deli	Probably should be called Template:The Garden Square Deli, which is a redirect anyway, but the shorter name was already in use, is easier to type, and keeps the home page in a more logical order.
Template:Waitrose	The brand is called Waitrose & Partners, but that's a bit clumsy, so internally we write Waitrose.

One Place Or Two?

As time goes on, things change. The way that people read the website changes, what they want to know changes, what the services offer changes, and the amount of text we have... and so the best way of explaining it changes.

In other words, there are some things that we used to show on one page, but maybe it's time to split them up. They can still be shown as a dual-sided site. Here's what's on the radar:

Page	Conclusion
Astwick and Northway	Different names, different postcodes, and one side isn't official.
Barton Mills and Fiveways	Barton Mills is the main service area, Fiveways has limited signage, both positioned around the same roundabout, not worth splitting them.
Breakspear Way	Different names and operators, but there really is no need to split them at all.
Capelgate and Bentley	MFG call it Capelgate, BP call it Bentley, GRIDSERVE call it Capelgate. They are directly opposite, so really not worth splitting. We used to call it Capel St Mary, which hasn't been used since the Little Chef days.
Kate's Cabin and Alwalton	Alwalton isn't a service area, but if it's getting attention it can still get a page. In this case, it is directly opposite Kate's Cabin, but has totally different facilities.
Markham Moor and Retford	It's a long page, with the same forecourt operator on each side and a shared history, but otherwise the facilities are separate. Each side has the same exit, and both are widely known as Markham Moor, after the junction. Renaming one of them would probably cause more confusion than good.
Picket Post and Forest Edge	This has only been thrown in because of the different names. The main facility is the McDonald's, which is on the Forest Edge side, but they call it Picket Post. Almost nobody knows it as Forest Edge.
Sutterton	Yes, it's two separate places with separate postcodes. But neither of them attract a lot of interest, and the roundabout is a landmark. This goes to the bottom of the pile, but if we split two many pages, we may have to ask why this one is left out.
Teddington Hands	Two independent facilities, but they are basically opposites of each other, and accessed from the same turning. Not enough content to split.
Thanet Way and Lychgate	Different names, different facilities, but they are directly opposite each other, so this is a bit different to the other ones because it does look like one place. Not sure what to do.
Délifrance and Le Munch	This was just a rebranding, not really worth splitting. (Same for GoPod/BookAPod?).

This list doesn't include any Trivia sections that are long enough to warrant their own History page. There are a few pages that have too much trivia (Beaconsfield, Scotch Corner, Leeds Skelton Lake, Norton Canes, Cambridge, Ferrybridge, Saltash, Ross Spur, Pease Pottage, Bothwell), but normally what happens is by the time you separate history from trivia, you end up with a history page that isn't as long as you had expected.

Other brands which have several different styles/wordings under the same main brand include: Sainsbury's, Asda, SPAR, M&S, Costa, Starbucks, Wimpy, Coffee Primo, Julie's Pantry, La Brioche Doree, Granada Lodge, Café Nescafé, Holiday Inn and Days Inn. These are all best discussed on one page. You may even argue that all the charging and drive thru brands go on this list too: again, we wouldn't split Granada fuel from Granada the operator, so there is no urgency to split MFG EV Power from MFG. Other brands that are squatting a page they don't deserve are now listed on MSO:Services we don't list.