Guide to Swanley services

Location:

A20 eastbound between London and the M25

Signposted from the road.

Postcode:

DA14 5JA

map and directions

Access/Layout:

Single site located between junctions on one side of the road.


A small service area on the eastbound side of the Swanley Bypass.

Facilities

Catering: McDonald's Drive Thru Outdoor Space: Grass verge only Forecourt: BP, Shop'N Drive, Greggs, Chicago Town Pizza, Costa Express, West Cornwall Pasty Co., LPG (FloGas), Free Cash Machine

Parking Prices

Short stay customer parking is available for cars at both facilities. No HGV parking is available.

Customer parking within the BP filling station is limited to 45 minutes maximum stay and is strictly enforced.

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

Contact Details

🏢 Address:
Swanley By Pass
Sidcup
Bexley
London
DA14 5JA


Trivia and History

The McDonald's restaurant.

The service area is positioned within the London Borough of Bromley, but it's only a few hundred yards from Kent. As a result, the precise ULEZ boundary excludes the service area, but only just, and in the event it's impossible to get to it without coming from ULEZ anyway.

In the 1980s there were several efforts to build a service station on the A20 into London. In 1986, BP proposed one on the westbound side at Petham Court Farm, close to the M25. In 1988 Fina proposed an eastbound petrol station and restaurant somewhere near Swanley, which was rejected. Although Kelly's Kitchen weren't named in the plan, the date and applicant suggests they had been planning another branch here.

The chosen site was a 1930s farm building called Waddon. In 1983, the farm became a scrap yard. The site was purchased by BP in 1988, and turned into Swanley North services, with access from the new A20 bypass. It opened in around 1992, with the McDonald's joining it in 1994.

Another developer tried to build a westbound service area in 1995, positioned by the railway bridge, slightly east of here.

BP redeveloped the site in 2001, converting the store to one of their BP Connect sites, which gained a Wild Bean Café in the process. The filling station was later acquired by Rontec in 2016, who rebranded the shop to SPAR and replaced the Wild Bean Café with a Subway store.

Rontec then replaced the SPAR store with their own-brand Shop'N Drive in early 2021 and replaced the Subway store with a Greggs unit in December 2022.

Rontec intend to install six electric vehicle charging points at the back of the car park.

Alternatives

Previous:Next:
start of roadServices on the A20Maidstone (M20, 25 miles)
Thurrock (M25 north, 11 miles)
Clacket Lane (M25 south, 15 miles)
Tunbridge Wells (A21 south, 27 miles)
Tollgate (A2 east, 12 miles)