Rownhams services
M27 between J3 and J4
Signposted from the road.
SO16 8AP
map and directions
Two sites located between junctions, connected by pedestrian subway..
The only substantial services on the entire south coast route, recent refurbishments have breathed life back in to what was becoming a forgotten place.
Facilities
Catering: McDonald's, Costa Express, Krispy Kreme, Skwishee Iced Drinks (westbound only), Costa Drive Thru
Shops: WHSmith
Amenities: on both sides: Showers
plus westbound only: Template:Website
and eastbound only: Brexit Document Advice Point, Template:Covid Test
: Temporarily closed
Template:Charging points
Forecourt: BP, Shop, Wild Bean Café, Air1 AdBlue
Parking Prices
First 2 hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £12 and HGVs, caravans and coaches £29, or £31 to include a £10 food voucher.
Prices are paid using PayByPhone - more details or in the shop. The location code is 5260 (westbound) and 5259 (eastbound).
The fees are strictly enforced by GroupNexus.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
Motor Way Service Station
Rownhams Lane
Rownhams
Southampton
Hampshire
SO16 8AP
- Amenity buildings and hotel operated by Roadchef
- Forecourts operated by BP Express
- Foursquare Page
- 📞 Telephone number: 023 8073 4480
Trivia and Design
See also: History:Rownhams
Two distinctly different designs make up the services. The westbound has always been the bigger of the two, and as of 2019 it boasts Roadchef's flagship brands including Leon and Spar. Eastbound looks tiny in comparison, but there is a plan to add a new restaurant.
The westbound services forms one of five bases for Boarhunt, a local recovery service. If there are significant delays at Southampton's docks most lorries are told to wait at the services.
Despite the location, the westbound service area is regularly referred to by Roadchef as being on the "M27 northbound".
In July 2016 the first motorway Costa drive thru unit opened at the eastbound services, which required the access road to be re-aligned. This tiny unit offers no internal seating at all. A second one opened in May 2017, along with a significant extension moving the toilets to the old entrance to make room for the new Spar store.
In Spring 2017, Transport Focus calculated a 75% satisfaction score for the westbound services and 76% for the eastbound services. This means the pair were the third and fourth worst-performing respectively. By 2018 things were much better, with 87% and 93%, and in 2019 westbound rose to 96%. The previous poor performance may explain why it has a turn-in rate of around only 4%.
In February 2020, Roadchef applied to build a stand-alone, two-storey McDonald's drive thru in the eastbound car park. This would have been unusual for a motorway service area, where stand-alone coffee shops are common, but restaurants are usually all in the main building.
The plan was later withdrawn, with Highways England having raised "a number of concerns". These concerns were mainly administrative and weren't an objection to the idea in principle.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| West Wellow (A36, 4 miles) Stoney Cross (A31 westbound, 9 miles) Picket Post (A31, 15 miles) | Services on the M27 | none on M27 Winchester (M3, 15 miles) Farlington (A27, 22 miles) Sutton Scotney (A34, 18 miles) |
| none | Roadchef services | Sutton Scotney (A34, 18 miles) |
Visitor Feedback
Visitors can leave public feedback on their experience by logging into the CommentBox app. You can do so quickly below:
Views expressed in these comments are those of the individual contributor. User accounts are managed by CommentBox.io. Registration helps prevent automated spam.
We ask the companies named to check here, but we can't force them to do so.