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Content:
Birchanger Green
From Motorway Services Online
| Birchanger Green | |
| Welcome Break | |
 View pictures (2) | |
| Road: | M11 at J8 (also accessible to traffic on the A120 and the B1256) |
| Address: | Birchanger Green Service Station Dunmow Road Bishop's Stortford Hertfordshire CM23 5QZ |
| Telephone number: | 01279 653388 |
| Signposted from the road? | Yes |
| Opened: | 1995 |
| Grid reference: | TL512215 |
| Services type: | Single site located at a junction. |
| Visit Birchanger Green/Welcome Break's official website Facebook Page | |
A single service area located at a busy junction at the exit to Stansted Airport. The hotel was recently extended.
Contents |
Facilities
General: Picnic Area, BT Openzone, Gamezone, Children's Play Area, Traffic Information, Conference Rooms, Showers
Restaurants: Coffee Primo, Burger King, Eat In, KFC
Shops: WH Smith, Fonebitz, Waitrose
Fuel: Shell (pump types unknown)
Motel: Days Inn
Parking Prices
First two hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £8 and caravans, coaches and HGVs £22.50. These prices include a £2/£8 food voucher respectively.
Prices can be paid from the pay & display machines in each car park, or from the shop within the services.
Trivia
Birchanger was thought to have opened in 1988 and is the only service station on the M11, but one at Chigwell was originally proposed near J5.
Throughout the late nineties Birchanger Green's junction was heavily congested until major improvement works saw a new junction, J8a, constructed within the existing one to get traffic in and out of Stansted Airport much quicker. It is still a complicated junction, particularly for southbound traffic, but it's not as busy as it used to be.
The motel at Birchanger is actually cheaper than Stansted's on-site one, and for that reason it is endorsed by several travel advice websites. A 77-bedroom "Days Hotel" was recently added alongside the existing 60-bedroom one as part of a £3m development.
During 2006 a Sainsbury's store was trialled here, but it was removed as it only had a licence for 6 months and hadn't been much of a success. Before opening the store, Welcome Break had to do a lot of negotiating with the Highways Agency who were concerned that the store would lead to local people using the services, making it a destination in its own right. Welcome Break kept using Moto's connection with M&S as a reason for them to open up the store.
The services have a small birdwatching site. When you drive in, the petrol facilities are offered before you reach the amenity building. Normally it's the other way round.
Survey Results
In 2008 the services won a five star loo award.
In 2006 and again in 2007, the petrol station's toilets were given a three-star loo award. The services themselves were rated four-star.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| none on M11 South Mimms (M25 west, 29 miles) Thurrock (M25 east, 30 miles) | Services on the M11 |
none on M11 Cambridge (A14, 32 miles) |
| none on M11 South Mimms (M25 west, 29 miles) | Welcome Break services | none nearby |
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