Starbucks Lounge at Sedgemoor North, located left of the entrance in the food court area. It’s the only Starbucks on-site, and lacks any of its own seating as it’s situated opposite customer seating. Between 1987 and 1995, there was no designated coffee shop at Sedgemoor North. This entire food court area was The Granary restaurant until 1995 when Coffee Primo opened. This was replaced by the Starbucks shown here in 2010 when the brand was rolled out to all Welcome Break sites. This unit could be due an upgrade. Welcome Break using Starbucks was an attempt to fill their sites with recognisable, high street brands. Starbucks is a premium coffee outlet in comparison to Costa, and charges a highly inflated price at motorway services, making it unaffordable for some. Coincidentally, Welcome Breaks logo uses the same colour schemes as Starbucks, perhaps this was done on purpose? There is no Starbucks Drive Thru kiosk at Sedgemoor North, so if you want coffee you have to park and get it from here, which benefits this store as it can’t loose any Starbucks customers this way. Starbucks is signposted from the M5 Northbound and is included on the Welcome Break totem pole here, however, Starbucks is the only brand advertised on the exterior of the amenity building. During my visit, Starbucks was empty, which is bizarre as it was 9am during the summer holidays, which should be when this lounge is packed.

Photo taken on 24/07/2023 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Sedgemoor (North), Welcome Break, M5, Starbucks