Guide to Orme View services

An old service station nestled in the foot of the mountains around Conwy.

Facilities

Outdoor Space: Grass verge only (extreme care needed); public footpath connection to Dwygyfylchi beach Forecourt: Shell, Londis, Costa Express, Dunkin' Donuts

Parking Information

Short stay customer parking is available for cars. No HGV parking is available.

This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.

Contact Details

Trivia and History

Although the service area's parking is provided for customers using the facilities only, it would be remiss of us not to point out that this service area is unique in that it is connected by a footbridge to the beach. This does at least mean that the facilities can boast that they are the only service area in the UK to be directly accessible by sea.

The service station at Penmaenmawr started out as Harold's Garage on the old Conway Road. In 1965 this gained a property on the seafront called Rosecroft, which later became Orme View Bungalow.

Expansion

The site was acquired by local garage owners L.S.P. Motors in 1966, who started selling Shell fuels. A year later, they added the Penmaenmawr branch of Little ChefHistory here, making it one of the country's oldest. It was a simple, short building which managed to trade until 2007, when it closed. It had stone-effect cladding and red and white stripes above the windows. In 2002, planning permission for a Travelodge to join the Little Chef here was approved, but this was never added.

The A55 here was upgraded to dual carriageway in 1989, significantly changing the view. A long bus bay was built outside the services which allowed passing coaches heading further into north-west Wales to stop here. This was removed in late 2015, as was the lay-by on the other side of the road, but as of 2024 they are both showing as 'Little Chef bus stop' in NaPTAN.

Recent Changes

The former restaurant building received a significant extension with more locally-appropriate cladding in 2014 and became The Puffin Cafe, Deli and Farm Shop. Orme View Bungalow was demolished at the same time. This closed during 2016 due to concerns about roadworks, but it reopened in June 2017. A Revolution Laundry machine was later added to the car park in 2018.

The Puffin Café soldiered on for another two years, before finally closing for good in November 2019. The self service launderette was also removed.

Shell sold the site to MFG in early 2023 as part of a deal with the Competition and Markets Authority. The site was relaunched on 15 April 2023 with a new Londis store, with MFG retaining Shell as the fuel partner.

Alternatives

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