Guide to Taunton Deane services

Despite the chaos and mania of the busy holiday period, busy Taunton Deane finds the time and space for a surprising amount of Somerset greenery.

Facilities

Catering: on both sides: Chozen Noodle (seasonal opening), Cornish Bakery (seasonal opening), Costa Coffee, McDonald's, Costa Express, Krispy Kreme, Costa Drive Thru
plus northbound only: The Jumbo Jacket Co. (seasonal opening)
and southbound only: Fresh Food Café Shops: WHSmith Amenities: on both sides: Changing Places, Jackpot £500, Showers
plus northbound only: UK Truck Clean Truck Wash
and southbound only: Days Inn Outdoor Space: on both sides: Picnic Area
plus northbound only: Grass areas and trees all around car park
and southbound only: Grass area at building entrance, larger under footbridge Charging Points: northbound only: GRIDSERVE Electric Highway HPC 350kW CCS, 100kW CHAdeMO & 22kW Type 2
and southbound only: GRIDSERVE Electric Highway 50kW CCS, 50kW CHAdeMO & 22kW Type 2 Forecourt: Shell, Select, Deli by Shell, Costa Express

Parking Prices

First 2 hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £13 and HGVs, caravans and motorhomes £31. HGVs can pay £34 to include a £10 food voucher.

Prices are paid in the shop or by using NexusPay. The location code is 2247 (northbound) and 2249 (southbound).

HGVs can also pay by using SNAP. The location code is 8017 (northbound) and 8018 (southbound).

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

Trivia and History

Taunton Deane is a prime example of the 'second era' of service station planning, where the government allocated large amounts of land, to avoid the overcrowding complaints they had faced at previous projects like Strensham. While the buildings themselves can become crowded, the large grounds mean that Taunton Deane looks nothing like the concrete jungles at the north end of the M5.

The northbound Costa Coffee operates from a separate annexe building outside the main entrance. While the idea of stand-alone coffee shops has become a feature of motorway service areas in recent years, it's very unusual to see one that has been doing this for so long. Given the strong summer uplift here, Roadchef created an outdoor area with an impressive line-up of five external kiosks to take the pressure off the main building.

Planning

See also: M5 Service Area Planning

A search for services near Taunton considered sites at Shoreditch, Kibbear, Fulwood, Canons Grove and Cutsey. It was described as a "pleasant site in the flat bottom of valley with an excellent view of The Wellington monument". This would be the first facility to open between Bristol and Exeter.

Initially Cutsey wasn't considered, but on a second review it was decided it was the lest harmful place for it, so the service area was built here, on a 37 acre site. During the investigative period, considerable evidence of a deserted medieval village was found. Unfortunately, in line with the attitude at the time, little attention was paid to this and the evidence has now been destroyed.

The service area was opened to bids in 1971. Responses were received from Roadchef, Ross, and Rank. Ross were declared the winners in 1974, but they pulled out, after which the contract was awarded to Roadchef, despite what the government called "lesser benefit". Roadchef would have been newly formed in 1971 - this was likely their first bid - and they committed to investing £700,000 in the project. During the negotiations, name 'Cutsey' was changed to 'Taunton Deane'.

Opening

The first facilities opened in June 1976, offering parking, fuel, toilets and temporary catering facilities. The main building was expected to open a few weeks later. The contractor, Linked Group, collapsed and the project stalled. Warings of Portsmouth eventually completed the job and the building opened on 15 April 1977.

Given the large grounds and relatively low traffic levels, it was agreed that the new operator would only need to build facilities on one side of the road until that reached full capacity. As a result, the finished building was on the southbound side only, and northbound customers had to cross the road using the long footbridge. Temporary facilities were sometimes available. The southbound building had a 250-seat restaurant and a large shop.

A dedicated northbound building was built next to the pathway in 1989. The new addition only has one entrance, as it feeds off the path that was already there. The newer building is the smaller of the two, and generally has shorter opening hours for its facilities.

Taunton Deane was one of three service areas deemed 'non-critical', which meant it could trial selling only two brands of fuel, instead of the required four. BP and Shell were the chosen two.

Changes

After the restriction on fuel brands was totally removed, BP and Shell took one side of the service area each. Eventually Shell purchased the other side.

A hotel was built on the southbound side in 1989. One was later planned on the northbound side but this never happened.

The service area used to use Coffee Republic rather than Costa Coffee.

The southbound amenity building was extended in 2019, to create more space and more units. A temporary structure was erected to serve as a seating area. Roadchef later purchased the structure from their contractor, and continued to use it as an overflow dining area.

A Costa Drive Thru opened on the southbound side in 2019 with its northbound counterpart joining in early 2020.

New Garden Square Deli kiosks were installed on both sides in June 2021 as well as a new Chozen Noodle kiosk on the northbound side to expand the food offerings available and to offer customers products without having to enter the main buildings. The northbound kiosks are also placed outside due to the lack of space inside the main building. Both Garden Square Deli kiosks were repurposed in summer 2022 to serve New York Bakery Co's range of bagels, before becoming home to Roadchef's latest own brand The Jacket Spud Co. in summer 2024.

The northbound Costa Coffee store received a major refurbishment in March 2023, reopening in April 2023. The southbound side gained the same treatment in June 2023, reopening on 10 July 2023 in time for the peak summer trade.

A larger southbound refurbishment is planned for early 2025 which will see a new entrance lobby added to the building to replace the existing temporary seating area. The Chozen Noodle and Fresh Food Café units are also set to move into a new hybrid unit next to the rear entrance, with a new Leon unit replacing their current location.

Three new high-powered GRIDSERVE chargers were added to the northbound side in August 2024, adding a new six-bay EV charging hub. This was initially planned as a nine-bay hub housed under their own solar canopy, but this was scaled back following power constraints on site.

Alternatives

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