Oxford: Difference between revisions
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[[Upper Crust]] and [[The Pasty Shop]] opened within a refurbished WHSmith in the filling station in April 2018. | [[Upper Crust]] and [[The Pasty Shop]] opened within a refurbished WHSmith in the filling station in April 2018. | ||
A Ben & Jerry's kiosk | A Ben & Jerry's kiosk also opened here on 20 July 2021. | ||
==Alternatives== | ==Alternatives== | ||
Revision as of 17:09, 28 July 2021
OX33 1LJ
map and directions
Single site located at a junction..
This is the Welcome Break service area on the M40 at J8A. For Welcome Break's services at the A34/A40 junction in Oxford, see Peartree. For Moto's site at J10 see Cherwell Valley.
Modern services on the M40, Oxford is notable for its landscaping and fountains around the front. It has a good amount of open space at the back, but this is slowly filling with new and trial facilities.
Facilities
Catering: Burger King, Template:Harry Ramsden's, KFC, PizzaExpress, Starbucks, Subway, The Good Breakfast, Ben & Jerry's, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks on the Go, Starbucks Drive Thru Shops: Little Waitrose & Partners, Top Gift, WHSmith Amenities: Fourex Money Exchange, Showers, Welcome Break Gaming : Ramada Template:Charging points Forecourt: BP, Shop, The Pasty Shop, Template:Upper Crust, f'real Milkshakes, Rollover, Starbucks on the Go, Air1 AdBlue
Parking Prices
First 2 hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £15 for a further 24 hours and HGVs, caravans and coaches must pay £31 (or £33 to include a £10 meal voucher).
Prices can be paid in the shop, with instructions in each car park. They are strictly enforced by ParkingEye.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
Welcome Break
Waterstock
Oxford
Oxfordshire
OX33 1LJ
- 🌍 Official Welcome Break Website
- Facebook Page
- Foursquare Page
- 📞 Telephone number: 01865 877000
- 📌 what3words: ///stuck.pave.flinch
- more map options
Trivia and History
There is a kennels and farm accessed from within the services. The cul-de-sac they are on leads to an original, isolated section of the A40.
In July 2015, Oxford was one of three sites to gain a Tesla Supercharger, the first three on the motorway network.
Planning Process
See also: M40 Planning Applications
Between 1974 and 1991, the M40 ended immediately south of here. The road was deemed too short to have any services, but lay-bys with toilets were provided on the A40 at Forest Hill.
When plans were afoot to extend the M40, building a service area at M40 J8A was quickly ruled out because it was too close to Oxfordshire County Council's favourite site at Cherwell Valley. In addition, the council were adamant that there should only be one motorway service area in their county, so studies only really considered potential sites in Buckinghamshire.
At this point the government ended its involvement in service station planning, but in 1993 Welcome Break proposed building at the current site, across an abandoned railway line. Meanwhile Wyatt Bros proposed a smaller service area on the opposite side of the junction.
At the time, this junction only had sliproads facing the north. The sliproads facing the south were steep and for emergency use only; general traffic wishing to use them had to use the tight junction near Wheatley village instead. Both proposals suggested replacing the emergency sliproads with real ones - the Welcome Break proposal had the entrance lead directly into the services.
Both these plans - and several other plans for the M40 - were rejected, but the Welcome Break proposal was approved after an inquiry. Their original building design took a courtyard design, like Sarn Park crossed with Lymm. One of the final changes saw the removal of a second storey from the new planned building. But unlike its sister site at Hopwood Park, the second storey would have housed only offices.
The entry sliproad was changed to cross the roundabout because of concerns about it conflicting with the turning for the kennels.
Naming
The early plans listed the services as 'Wheatley', but this was changed to Oxford upon opening. That change may be related to Welcome Break losing their site at Peartree, which was closer to Oxford than this "Oxford" site. Now Welcome Break own Peartree again, it all looks a bit odd.
Prior to it opening the site was known as Lower Farm, and briefly as Wheatley Triangle.
Opening
The service area opened on 19 July 1998 by Anthea Turner and were expected to be the last services to open on the M40, a road which originally held the record for the longest major road that doesn't have any services.
Within a week of the services opening, the fire brigade were called twice: firstly there was a minor petrol leak and a few days later a fire was started deliberately in the toilets. The latter incident happened just two days after Welcome Break lost their nearby South Mimms services in a large fire.
Brands
Oxford has been used to trial many major brands over time, including Waitrose, a Krispy Kreme store in December 2012 and Dunkin' Donuts in July 2014.
The hotel underwent a major refurbishment and reopened on 1 October 2014 as Ramada, replacing Days Inn.
A PizzaExpress restaurant opened here in October 2017, the first of several planned openings. It was built in a new building next to the hotel, which is in a similar style to the building which was built to house Ed's Easy Diner at South Mimms, which is also now a PizzaExpress.
Upper Crust and The Pasty Shop opened within a refurbished WHSmith in the filling station in April 2018.
A Ben & Jerry's kiosk also opened here on 20 July 2021.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| Beaconsfield (24 miles) | Services on the M40 | Cherwell Valley (20 miles) |
| none | Services on the A40 | Peartree (10 miles) Milton Heights (A34 south, 19 miles) |
| none | Services on the A418 | Thame (6 miles) |
| South Mimms (M25 east, 52 miles) London Gateway (M1 south, 49 miles) | Welcome Break services | Warwick (44 miles) |
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