Orme View services
A55 westbound between J16 and J17
Signposted from the road.
LL34 6UN
map and directions
Single site located between junctions on one side of the road.
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
đą Address:
Orme View Filling Station
Conway Road
Penmaenmawr
Conwy
LL34 6UN
- đ Official MFG/Orme View website
- Foursquare Page
- đ Telephone number: 01492 550128
- đ what3words: ///magically.clipped.unafraid
- more map options
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. This was joined by a property on the seafront called Rosecroft in 1965, which later became Orme View Bungalow.
Expansion
The site was acquired by local garage owners LSP Motors in 1966, who started selling Shell fuels. A year later, they added the Penmaenmawr branch of Little ChefHistory, making that one of the country's oldest branches. It was a simple, short building which managed to trade until 2007. It had stone-effect cladding and red and white stripes above the windows.
LSP Motors wanted to build a motel as well, but couldn't secure planning permission. Much later, planning permission was secured for the Little Chef to be joined by a Travelodge in 2002, but this was never built.
The A55 here was upgraded to dual carriageway in 1989, significantly changing the view. A long bus bay was built outside the service area 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 2025 they are both showing as 'Little Chef bus stop' in NaPTAN, the most widely-used public transport database. The footbridge had been built to connect these bus stops and other local accesses; Network Rail added a maintenance plate to ite in 2024, confirming that the bridge's name is still "Procters/Little Chef FB".
Recent Changes
The former restaurant building received a significant extension with more locally-appropriate cladding in 2014, becoming The Puffin Cafe Deli and Farm Shop. Orme View Bungalow was demolished at the same time. The café closed during 2016 due to concerns about roadworks, but it reopened in June 2017. A Revolution Laundry machine was 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 to placate 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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