Fleet

Fleet
Welcome Break
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Road:	M3 between J4a and J5
Address:	Welcome Break M3 Services Fleet Services Fleet Hampshire GU51 1AA
Telephone number:	01252 621656
Signposted from the road?	As Starbucks/Waitrose
Opened:	1973
Previous operators:	Trusthouse Forte
Grid reference:	SU798558
Services type:	Two sites located between junctions, connected by an internal bridge.
Visit Fleet/Welcome Break's official website Facebook Page

Built in the middle of a forest, Fleet is a popular service area on the main route between London and the South West. It can get quite busy during holiday times and is one of few services to offer McDonalds as well as KFC and Burger King.

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Facilities

General: Meeting Room, BT Openzone, Welcome Break Gaming, Traffic Information, Showers
Restaurants: Burger King, Coffee Primo, Starbucks, Eat In, KFC, McDonalds
Shops: WH Smith, Waitrose
Fuel: Shell (pumps include LPG)
Motel: Days Inn^{[book rooms]} (southbound only)

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/£10 food voucher respectively.

Prices can be paid in the shop and restaurant, with instructions in each car park. They are strictly enforced by ParkingEye.

Trivia

For quite a while Fleet was the only service area on the M3, and even today it's the only 'proper' services for south-western traffic for the next 130 miles.

It's one of two Welcome Break services which have a McDonalds. In 1995 Welcome Break announced that following its success they were going to open a McDonalds at all of their services, but this process was stopped after Welcome Break was bought by Granada who already had a deal with Burger King.

The footbridge at Fleet was built with this section of motorway, but the rest of the services weren't built for a few years, so for a while we were left with a bridge connecting two sides of wasteland.

Fleet were one of the first services to try out Welcome Break's new look in 2006. It also appears to have quite a lot of Facebook groups - I count eight, most of which are complimentary.

On BBC Southern Counties Radio, Jeremy Clarkson described the "Fleet cheat" where you use the services' back exit to avoid queues on the motorway, but he was told there were now rising bollards in use, to which he suggested getting a Hummvee. They also featured in an early episode of 'Waterloo Road'.

Survey Results

In 2008 the services won a five star loo award.

In 2006 and again in 2007, the toilets at the petrol station were given a three-star loo award. The services themselves were rated four-star.

The services were inspected by the AA on the 24th and 25th of March 2007. These are their results:

The services were said to be well signed and supervised, with a good shop and clean facilities. The biggest problem raised was the lack of disabled access. The lack of outside space and cold snacks were also highlighted.

In 1992 the services won the entire Loo of the Year competition.

Alternatives

Comments and Reviews

Showing the most recent responses only: for the full thread and the ability to edit your own posts, you need to view the topic in the forums.
Author: Message: Michele My husband and I stopped for a coffee on our way back to Kent a year ago, and found the place had improved; with a small cafe area which served good tastng coffee in a surprisingly quiet environment. We decided to stop there again tjhe next time we were on the same route. Today, though, after we purposefully headed for Fleet expecting to enjoy the same experience we were so disgusted by the changes that we left before finishing our coffees. The small comfortable cafe corner had vanished, and the only place to get coffee from was a KFC - large and noisy with enormous mugs of 'coffee'. Part of the problem was the lack of rubber pads on the chair legs, so that there was a constant row of metal chair legs scraping on a wooden floor - a sound akin to fingernails on a blackboard..... that plus the loud radio/music completely spoilt any chance of taking a short relaxing break on our car journey. Also, the exit routes had been re-painted and re-routed making it confusing to find our way back onto the motorway, and a lorry leaving at the same time from the petrol station just missed us as he sped out onto the road without warning. We shan't be stopping off there again in the foreseeable future. Posted: 13 May 2010, 21:09 Chris I've used this location quite a bit on my way to visit my father in Wiltshire, and always found it to possess the usual amount of mediocrity to be found in most of these places. You know - overpriced fuel, food, and coffee, etc, etc - but I'd never eaten breakfast there until recently, although I'd often been tempted by the photos of delicious-looking full English breakfasts. My advice? Don't bother - it is absolutely awful! My son spent £18 on our two meals, which consisted of re-heated has-beans (sorry!), two sausages that appeared to be made of some kind of wood, and bacon which had the same texture (and possibly taste) of my wallet, although there was probably more taste in my wallet. This was topped-off with a partially cooked tomato, some second rate (and possibly second-hand) hash browns and badly-cooked toast(How can anyone mess up toast?). Quite how this outfit get away with this, I have no idea, but they've certainly brought highway robbery into the 21st century. Well not any more; Not as far as I'm concerned. I won't even stop there again. I'll make sure I get my fuel at my local sensibly-priced Asda, I'll bring a packed breakfast which will at least be new, and I will never, ever use so-called 'Welcome Break' again. They've lost out - you only rip people off once! Posted: 16 Apr 2010, 20:16 Anonymous £1.50 for a bottle of Coke! Posted: 28 Feb 2010, 19:41 Johnny Yes, although quite why you're asking two hours before the end of the day is beyond me. Posted: 25 Dec 2009, 15:29 Anonymous does anyone know if fleet services are open on xmas eve? Posted: 24 Dec 2009, 22:59 Admin Post your comments and reviews for Fleet here, or you can return to Fleet. Posted: 20 Aug 2005, 12:15
Showing the most recent responses only: for the full thread and the ability to edit your own posts, you need to view the topic in the forums.

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AA survey results from the Automobile Association, you can view the full report and what they were looking for in this PDF document.