Warwick: Difference between revisions
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The service area made the news in May 2020, after a volunteer started offering free food to HGV drivers in the northbound parking area, while the main food franchises were closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The volunteer was eventually asked to leave by Welcome Break, who claimed that there had been complaints about the safety risk. | The service area made the news in May 2020, after a volunteer started offering free food to HGV drivers in the northbound parking area, while the main food franchises were closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The volunteer was eventually asked to leave by Welcome Break, who claimed that there had been complaints about the safety risk. | ||
The toilets are currently receiving a refurbishment on both sides, with temporary toilets being provided at the far end of each amenity building in portable buildings. The new toilets are expected to reopen in Autumn 2022. The northbound Days Inn hotel | The toilets are currently receiving a refurbishment on both sides, with temporary toilets being provided at the far end of each amenity building in portable buildings. The new toilets are expected to reopen in Autumn 2022. The northbound Days Inn hotel also received a major refurbishment, and it reopened in September 2022. | ||
===Opening=== | ===Opening=== | ||
Revision as of 17:41, 5 September 2022
M40 between J12 and J13
Signposted from the road.
CV35 0AA
map and directions
Two sites located between junctions, with no public connection between them.
This is the Welcome Break service area on the M40. For the smaller services on the A46, see Budbrooke.
Once quite an open and spacious site, it has now been extended considerably to provide a wider range of facilities.
Facilities
Catering: on both sides: Burger King, KFC, Starbucks, Subway, The Good Breakfast, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks on the Go, Tango Ice Blast, Starbucks Drive Thru
and southbound only: Chopstix Noodle Bar
Shops: on both sides: Waitrose & Partners, WHSmith
and southbound only: Top Gift
Amenities: on both sides: Days Inn, Meeting Room, Showers
plus northbound only: Template:Welcome Break Gaming
and southbound only: Game Zone
Outdoor Space: northbound only: Small grass area by hotel. Larger area across entry road but extreme caution needed
and southbound only: Large grass area by hotel
Charging Points: GRIDSERVE Electric Highway 50kW CCS, 50kW CHAdeMO & 22kW Type 2; Tesla Supercharger 120kW & 150kW CCS
Forecourt: BP, Shop, Template:The Pasty Shop, Chicago Town Pizza, 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 for up to 24 hours (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 Ltd
Warwick Services M40
Banbury Road
Ashorne
Warwick
CV35 0AA
- 🌍 Official Welcome Break/Warwick Northbound Website
- Official Welcome Break/Warwick Southbound Website
- Facebook Page
- Foursquare Page
- 📞 Telephone number: 01926 650168 (northbound)
01926 652080 (southbound)
Trivia and History
The former Coffee Primo lounge, built as a Little Chef.
The two sides of Warwick have always been treated as separate on Welcome Break's website. This appears to come down to the way their first website described the road layout at J13 (which has no signs when travelling south), and they have copied it ever since. The sites are able to operate fully independently, and were officially split in 2021, when each side received their own site manager.
The northbound Days Inn hotel was closed for a few months in 2007 after the ground floor flooded.
The southbound service area gained a new Starbucks Drive Thru on 20 December 2013.
In 2000 a swan made of quartz chips was put in place in at the entrance to the southbound services, with a flowerbed reading 'Welcome to Warwick'. The swan was based on (but different to that of) the old Welcome Break logo. It was removed after a few years.
Upper Crust units opened here in the filling station shops on both sides in June 2018, one of three sites to gain this new brand at the time. These were later rebranded to The Pasty Shop in 2022.
The southbound Tossed store closed here in February 2020 as part of a nationwide shutdown of their motorway sites. A Chopstix Noodle Bar replaced the Tossed unit later in 2020.
The service area made the news in May 2020, after a volunteer started offering free food to HGV drivers in the northbound parking area, while the main food franchises were closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The volunteer was eventually asked to leave by Welcome Break, who claimed that there had been complaints about the safety risk.
The toilets are currently receiving a refurbishment on both sides, with temporary toilets being provided at the far end of each amenity building in portable buildings. The new toilets are expected to reopen in Autumn 2022. The northbound Days Inn hotel also received a major refurbishment, and it reopened in September 2022.
Opening
See also: M40 Service Area Planning
Documents as far back as 1974 talk about possible places "near Fosse Way" where a motorway service area could be provided on the then-unbuilt M40. The location wasn't confirmed until 1986 as other location near Gaydon were being examined too. The main factor appeared to be the distance from the planned Black Firs services on the M42.
As was common in the late 1980s, once the Department of Transport had made their intentions public, it attracted commercial rivals. Mobil registered a planning application in the exact same location, showing a similar layout but with a footbridge (the DoT had ruled out building a footbridge). Meanwhile Blue Boar planned a site at M40 J12.
Those rivals were rejected, but once the Department of Transport had secured planning permission they decided to award the contract to build it to Mobil, under their new single tender policy.
Both Mobil and the DoT had called the planned site Barn Hill services. Mobil decided to partner with Welcome Break, who opened it 'Warwick services'.
When it opened, advertised facilities were The Granary food court, La Baguette, food hall, news stand, galleria, sweet shop, Customer Services and Forte Travelodge.
For a fairly new service station the exit slip roads are surprisingly short.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| Hopwood Park (M42 west, 22 miles) Tamworth (M42 north, 35 miles) Hilton Park (M6 north, 48 miles) Corley (M6 south, 26 miles) Telford (M54, 64 miles) Norton Canes (M6 Toll, 47 miles) | Services on the M40 | Cherwell Valley (23 miles) |
| Hopwood Park (M42 west, 22 miles) Corley (M6 south, 26 miles) Telford (M54, 53 miles) | Welcome Break services | Oxford (M40, 53 miles) Peartree (A34, 35 miles) |
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