Birchanger Green Services M11
Comment on Birchanger Green Services MSA
If I had to choose between stopping off for a meal or eating my left hand, I'd eat my hand
Benjamin, 23 August 2010
Enter car park at your peril. It takes hours to get out
joe, 22 August 2010
Stopped here on the way to and from our holiday and found it to be a very nice stop. The place and the toilets were all clean and staff polite. Ate KFC and all ok with that too. Car park is badly laid out.
Lou, 18 July 2010
Who designed the road system!!!! Sat in none moving traffic for over an hour with an eleven week old uncomfortable baby. Sort it out!
Katie smith , 16 July 2010
Possibly the best Showers on the UK Motorway services. They are always clean and warm. If only the rest of the services were as good as this site!!
NI Trucker, 14 July 2010
I am a coach driver and think that welcome break offers better choice and service than moto or road cheff. they also look after coach drivers very well. I always try to stop at a welcome break so my passengers get a good refreshing stop. however Birchanger was a break from welcome breaks norm. Diry, unplesent staff, cold food the toilets smelt so bad they made you feel sick to all do use welcome break they are very good take it from somone who stops at them alot just avoid Birchanger as if your life depends on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
John, 1 July 2010
Had food poisoning ever since I ate a cheese/Ham sandwich from the coffee primo. Have tried in vain to contact that outlet to discuss. No one picks up the phone. Need I say more?
caroline, 17 November 2009
We pulled in at birchanger after a long day at 2245hrs on the 4th July 2009, for something to eat which we thought was a 24hr service station; only to find that everyone was shutting up! I found out that closing time was 2300hrs. No one could be bothered to serve food or drink. I find this very poor being near to a main service area near to Stansted Airport and on the M11 going to London.
Ian Chatters, 4 July 2009
Travelling on motorbike, tired, weiry and ready for a refreshing break, we needed somewhere to secure our bike to. My husband pulled up against a fence and was going to chain the bike to it, only to be challenged by a member of staff, advising us to move. We ended up taking a carparking bay, which was not entirely suitable. Why do these places provide for coaches, disabled and general travellers but not bikers!! please rectify this.
ann senior, 19 June 2009
After visiting the services Sunday 22nd March, one of several visits over the last few months. I would like to point out that the entrance road surface requires urgent repairs as more pot-holes are appearing and the exsisting ones are getting bigger. Not very nice to dodge the pot-holes or suffer a broken suspension along with a large repair bill.
George, 25 March 2009
Driving back up north from Maidstone, quite tired, long day, etc.... the layout of the roads confused me and made me think I was even more tired and hallucinating: Petrol station placed before car park & main building?!? Never seen that before?! I needed petrol too, so my tired self ended up making two circuits of the entire site... one to find a parking space, another to get petrol and get out!!
Paul, 9 January 2009
Called in for petrol on 27/12 at 3pm. Filled up in 10 minutes, but it took one hour to get out and back on the motorway. The queues were horrendous and nobody there to help. Very badly organised - stay away!
john corbett, 29 December 2008
Despite the building work taking up part of the coach park, the area is clean and welcoming. There are wheelie bins to get rid of rubbish sacks rather than having to stuff them into (or leave them beside) litter bins. The staff are always cheerful, and service is slick!
cycoticpenguin, 12 October 2008
Birchanger services on M11 by Stanstead, visited on way up north with my partner and my 9 month old daughter, excellent facilities for toddlers, microwave (clean), spoons in sealed packets, bibs - all round excellent service for toddlers!!!!
Andy Hall, 29 August 2008
It's always a problem with this industry - usually poorly trained staff on poor wages which gives even poorer morale. That in turn give a poor level of service customer complaints, again killing morale. The food costs are silly on the basic stuff [ Tea, Coffee, Water, sandwiches ] but they have a captive audience. I usually bring my own sandwiches and just buy a coffee - though the last coffee here made me buy a flask! These people pay a lot of money to operate these motorway services but really do shoot themselves in the foot. I think these places need a General Manager with a day & night deputy, who actually have the teeth to manage with only guidance from head office. Assuming there is a Site Director, it's time they directed on the ground rather than sit on their bum for their 60kpa. Good staff should be rewarded with something tangible - which means better wages and all customer facing staff [not management] should benefit from performance bonues. This enables the General Manager to surround themself with people who can do. Things don't change though........
Robert, 23 August 2008
my wife was appalled when she ordered a "delicious thick shake" and was charged £2.49 for half a glass of flavoured mlik mixed with half a glass of crushed ice! some people might like that sort of thing if it was properly advertised but we agree they dont really have a clue and they have the ordasity to charge extortionate prices for the privilege.
Anthony White, 10 August 2008
Birchanger is simply the worst services I've ever stopped at. The staff are either a)Rude b)un-trained c)unable to give the most basic assistance to customers d)have NO customer facing skills whatsoever....the list could on...
KGB, 24 July 2008
The manager and staff should visit a rest area/services on a French autoroute to see how it should be run. God knows what foriegn tourists think of this country, if they stop at Birchanger. The only reason that I stop there now is because they sell Shell V-Power and that is vastly over priced.
Geoff Boston, 23 August 2007
I stopped for a break here on Monday 5 March 07 traveling from Stansted back to Yorkshire. Granted it was 2am and restaurant provision limited but what was availible looked dry & stale, the place seem deserted gave up waiting in the end, where the staff were I can't imagine and the toilets were appalling the stench over powering and most of the facilities out of order Will not be stopping here again Gary Farrimond
Gary Farrimond, 6 March 2007
we called in at Birchanger on route from midlands to Stansted . it was early morning , about 8am , it was filthy , toilets in the mens were mostly all blocked and over flowing or not in order . the smell was over powering. the food was ok , but quite pricey we thought. and as for access around that island , its more complicated than spaghetti junction, i drove round the car park twice before finding the exit !!
jake, 13 January 2007
Its ok for the toilets butif you want anything else then you're going to pay a heavy price.
Phil, 13 January 2007
The route from the M11 roundabout to the customer car park was so convuluted and poorly signposted that we eventually gave upand drove on.
Roger Brett, 7 January 2007
This is the only service station I use on a regular basis... but not out of choice. It is about midway for the stop on a frequent journey, and therefore ideal. But it is pricey, dirty, and generally badly maintained. Sometimes it's best to just keep driving...
Pete, 26 December 2006
Possibly the most EXPENCIVE services in the world ever. This is the place that can justify selling a CUP of tea for £2.95 avoid it if you can...
Keith, 11 December 2006
Avoid at all costs.
Michael Horridge, 4 September 2006 (This comment relates to a visit to this service area at: 4 PM 3 September 2006)
We arrived at Birchanger Green en route from Stansted to Cheshire at about 3.30pm on 3rd September. Not having eaten since breakfast in Jerez we looked forward to a decent meal. We did not bargain for this abomination. The soup was cold, the chips were cold, hard and probably reheated numerous times. The fish and chicken were tasteless. I have eaten better meals in mountain refuges at 10000feet for a fraction of the cost.
Malcolm Gruber, 4 September 2006 (This comment relates to a visit to this service area at: 4 PM 3 September 2006)
We stopped at Birchanger Green earlier this evening.All we wanted was a pot of tea. The pot was cracked, there were no clean teaspoons, the tray was filthy as was the eating area and the assistant was diffident. We also visited the toilets, perhaps the best thing to say about that experience is "Don't go there!" We tried expressing concern to the Duty Manager and asked for a Customer Comment card only to be told that "we don't do those" when we related the problem to her she was not interested at all. Congratulations Welcome Break. Birchanger Green wins first prize for rude staff and lack of hygiene.
Annie and John Rile, 18 August 2006 (This comment relates to a visit to this service area at: 9 PM 18 August 2006)
i went in to the service area for a coffee etc on my return to our coach we noticed on the lawns 5 large rats near the entrance to the coach park. do you not have a vermin policy it seems very unhygenic to have such a large amount of vermin so near to the kitchen area it is very worrying
Mr S J Hubbard, 9 July 2006 (This comment relates to a visit to this service area at: 9 PM 7 June 2006)
I am a nightshift trucker and drink a lot of coffee every night. Stopping here in the early morning I wanted a simple large strong black coffee. All the Coffee Primo machines were closed through the night. What I ended up with was a Medium coffee that had been kept warm for hours. The fact that Welcome Break do £600 - £800 per year at Roadchef. The fact that we pay so much for a little coffee and hot water is obscene but the fact that you deny customers this service because its dark, then charge them the same rate is more than annoying.
Brian McNamara, 25 March 2006 (This comment relates to a visit to this service area at: 5 AM )
Always collect your drink before a hot meal and if there is a queue at the till ask the servery to bring the meal to you, because there is quite a distance to the non-smoking eating area. This will cause your meal to be almost cold by the time you sit down if you follow the "normal" route round the food area.
Stephen Poulton, 28 February 2006
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