M6 services with lakeside views named one of country’s best while another just a few miles away is slammed
Tebay service station boasts a duck pond, farm shop, and outdoor terrace
06:26, 23 May 2025
The services on the M6 boast their own duck pond (Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
A motorway services on the M6 has been named one of the best in the country in a new survey undertaken by consumer comparison site Which?
Just in the time for the bank holiday weekend - and for the first time in four years - Which? has revealed the best and worst service stations across the UK according to its members.
More than 4,000 of its members were asked about their experiences of using service stations up and down the land.
Their responses covered almost 9,000 service station visits and helped rank 90 service stations based on categories including prices in food/retail outlets, shops, food and drink selection, facilities, cleanliness, convenience and accessibility and outside space.
Gloucester services on the M5 came out on top, receiving the highest customer score of 85 per cent.
Gloucester Services(Image: Birmingham Mail)Article continues below
The services, which are part of the Westmorland Family, received five stars in almost every category.
One visitor said: "If all motorway service stations were like Gloucester I'd be delighted to spend time at any". Another customer praised the services saying it was "head and shoulders above all the others that I've used".
Westmorland Family services regularly top the consumer champions survey.
Tebay M6 services in Cumbria followed closely behind Gloucester with a score of 77 per cent, while Cairn Lodge on the M74 in Lanarkshire received a score of 72 per cent. They both scored well in all categories but lost stars for price.
The north-bound services was the family's first site, which opened in 1972 when the motorway was built across the farm land.
Tebay Services on M6(Image: Channel 4)
It was the UK's first family-run motorway service area, cooking simple good food and selling local produce - origins it says 'are still the foundation of everything we do'.
Previously declared 'the Rolls Royce' of services by singer Gary Barlow[1] when he made a pitstop there on his way from Scotland to Manchester last year, the services are in open countryside surrounded by trees, small lakes and panoramas of the Cumbrian landscape - and it even has its own duck pond.
Tebay also boasts and award-winning farm shop which sells local produce.
In third position, Rugby's Moto Services on the M6 in Warwickshire received an impressive score of 75 per cent and four stars across almost every category.
One customer said Rugby was "a great service station.
Why can't others be like Rugby?". Another said "Rugby is new and clean and on a nice day is perfect to break up your journey".
It's been four years since the consumer champion's last Motorway Services survey and apart from the new entries, Which? found very little has changed.
The northbound Tebay Services offers lovely views of a manmade lake and the Lake District in the distance (Image: James Maloney/Lancs Live)
However, nine of the ten sites at the bottom of the table are Moto brands, with Rugby's success making it something of an outlier.
Moto's Bridgwater Services (J24) on the M5 took bottom place in the table.
It scored 23 per cent and scored one star in all categories in the survey.
Reasons for its lower rating included inadequate parking space, and overpriced facilities that "look and feel filthy" and toilets that "smelt of stale urine".
Lancaster Services on the M6 scored 34 per cent in the survey too.
The abandoned Pennine Tower, now part of Lancaster services, on the M6 motorway(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool ECHO)
Customers told Which? that these services are "crowded" with "poor access" as shops and food courts are linked by a pedestrian bridge across the motorway.
Customers also commented on having to walk over the bridge to the other side to get "an underwhelming breakfast served in a cardboard box".
The services' Pennine Tower, once the service station's iconic restaurant and sundeck, now stands abandoned and empty.
Hilton Park, also on the M6, received the same score and was named "dark and gloomy" by customers.
Which? also found service stations were charging customers reported paying high prices for convenience.
Of the 90 service stations in the survey, only Westmorland's managed to secure more than a two-star rating for prices in its food and retail outlets.
The full motorway services ratings as gathered by Which?.(Image: Which? Travel)
After visiting Rugby services, Which?'s undercover inspectors drove just two miles to a retail park to see how much they could save.
Unleaded petrol was 28p a litre cheaper, saving ?15.40 on a standard 55-litre tank. A Greggs sausage roll was just ?1.30, compared to ?1.65 in the services (a 27% mark-up) and a small Costa coffee was ?2.90, compared to ?3.50.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which?
Travel commented: "The best service stations are a convenient pit stop with decent food and facilities, however our survey shows those are few and far between and that many services are not up to scratch.
"Poor facilities and extortionate prices for food and drink were widespread complaints, but most shocking of all was how drivers told us just how many services were unclean.
"To avoid disappointment, people should plan their route to avoid the worst service stations and look for alternative places to stop."
Article continues belowThe results produced in the above table are based on a survey of 8,677 experiences from 4,078 Which?
Connect members in Nov/Dec 2024.
The customer score based on overall satisfaction and likelihood of recommending.
References
- ^ declared 'the Rolls Royce' of services by singer Gary Barlow (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)