It’s the Ritz of the UK motorway service station world.
Cobham services between junctions nine and 10 on the M25 has been ranked as the No1 service station in Britain, thanks to its impressive array of facilities, which includes a Nando’s and a launderette.
Coming bottom of the ranking are two Todhills at the far north end of the M6.
The best and worst motorway service stations in the UK revealed. This graphic shows the top 10
The table was drawn up by Northgate Vehicle Hire, which said that it looked at the number of amenities of each facility and the quality of service across on-site restaurants and hotels.
Twenty per cent of the score came from ratings found on the Motorway Services Online website, which is essentially the TripAdvisor for service stations.
The list gives each service station a mark out of 100, with Cobham scoring an impressive 97.28, three points ahead of second-place Cherwell Valley on the M40.
Cobham services between junctions nine and 10 on the M25 has been ranked as the No1 service station in Britain, thanks to its impressive array of facilities, which includes a Nando’s and a launderette
Cobham services even features an array of eye-catching fountains, as this image shows
It boasts the most food outlets of any service station, with 13 unique offerings. As well as a Nando’s it has a KFC, McDonald’s, a Harry Ramsden’s, a Carvery Express, a Greggs, an El Mexicana and a Pizza Express.
The station also includes a WH Smith and an M&S Simply Food, along with a whopping 4,620 parking spaces.
The UK’s most dangerous motorway – the M6 – has a number of excellent service stations, suggesting a lack of places to take a break isn’t the main reason for the road’s 7,000 reported accidents over the past ten years.
Junction 3’s Corley services hits 5th place on the list with a rating of 88.53. Meanwhile Norton Canes (on the toll road) also scores highly, with an overall rating of 87.30.
Heading further north, your best place to rest if you’re heading towards Tyneside or the Scottish border, according to the research, is Moto’s Wetherby services on the A1 (M) at junction 46.
This stop includes eight food outlets and has the best hotel rating on the entire list, claiming a score of 87.38.
Two Todhills on the M6 in Cumbria have come bottom of the ranking. Pictured is Todhills (south), which came last out of 112
If you’re travelling on the M11 then you’re in luck – with an average score of 85 points, this motorway ranks the best for available service stations. This is thanks to a solid score from Birchanger Green services, which boasts eight different food outlets.
London’s M25 places eleventh on the list, and the M1 comes in ninth. Motorists hitting the M23 in Surrey, however, aren’t in for a good stop, with an average score of 63.
Welcome Break, meanwhile, comes out on top as the most consistently high-quality service station provider, with an average rank of 82.35 across all of its sites. The average rank of all service stations is 78.10.
The two Todhills in Cumbria between junctions 44 and 45 occupying the bottom two places in the table of 112 stops score badly mainly because of a lack of facilities.
The bottom-ranked Todhills (south) only has two options for food – a Wild Bean Cafe inside the BP petrol station and a Costa.
While the Todhills (north) only has a Deli by Shell and a Costa.
However, some customer comments are quite positive.
One driver, in 2013, said: ‘Stopped here as busting for toilet on way to Scotland. Wow, nice staff and welcoming atmosphere. I actually bought a coffee and sandwich which I hadn’t planned on and a tempting muffin.’
Moto Hospitality Ltd, which runs Todhills, said: ‘Todhills, on the M6 near Carlisle, is not a motorway service area and therefore cannot reasonably be compared to other service areas. The site is a rest area on both sides of the motorway, each consisting of a Costa Coffee shop and car park, operated by Moto Hospitality Ltd, and a forecourt, which is independently owned. We are currently planning a development programme for the site, which was previously two Little Chef restaurants.’