Peartree

Peartree
Welcome Break
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Road:	A34/A40/A44 Peartree Interchange (Oxford Ring Road)
Address:	Peartree Roundabout Woodstock Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX2 8JZ
Telephone number:	01865 514268
Signposted from the road?	Yes
Opened:	1964
Previous operators:	Trusthouse Forte, Granada, Little Chef
Previous names:	Oxford Peartree
Grid reference:	SP495108
Services type:	Single site located at a junction.
Visit Peartree/Welcome Break's official website

Once a dire and ageing Little Chef, these services were recently taken over by Welcome Break and given a completely new list of brands. It's open from 11am until "late".

Due to a shortage of space HGVs are banned from the services, but there is room for coaches.

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Facilities

General: BT Openzone, Welcome Break Gaming
Restaurants: KFC, Starbucks
Shops: Waitrose
Fuel: Shell (pump types unknown)
Motel: Travelodge^{[book rooms]}, Holiday Inn^{[book rooms]}

Parking Prices

First two hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £6. Prices can be paid at the pay and display machines in each parking area.

Further information is not available, please update this if you know.

Trivia and History

The services as a Little Chef.

The services were built by Trusthouse Forte in the '70s and then transferred to Granada in 1996. It was quite an upmarket service area with the first Granary restaurant and a carvery, and the walls down to the basement toilets being lined with carpet. It was built alongside the Excelsior Motor Lodge, dating from the 1960s, which by the early 1990s was branded as a Welcome Lodge. It was the first service area with a Little Chef alongside it, which was at first housed in a prefab-type building opposite the main building. Like Trusthouse Forte's MSAs, the services were badged as Welcome Break from the mid-1980s. Granada acquired the site with Forte in 1996 and retained it when the motorway arm of Welcome Break was spun off. At some point around this time Little Chef was moved into the main building, displacing the Granary.

Under Compass ownership the elderly hotel - called the Oxford Lodge - was largely demolished with two hotels being built on the site. The larger, more upmarket hotel was promoted as the first Posthouse to be built in twenty years, but the hotels opened following the divestment by Compass of its hotel and roadside businesses and the larger hotel thus opened as a Holiday Inn, the smaller as a Travelodge.

Little Chef remained the main occupant of the main building, alongside Burger King. Compass experimented with an Upper Crust counter and a joint Little Chef/Harry Ramsden's menu; the People's Restaurant Company demolished the games area and opened a Coffee Tempo. The shop still used Granada branding until it was closed at the end of 2009.

Although the main restaurant was well-run, the building itself was run-down, with dirty, poorly signed toilets and a car park with few signs to it. Welcome Break took over the site in April 2010 and completely refitted the site, with the new one opening at 11am on the 9th July. It remains to be seen whether they can give it the kick it needs.

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: Johnny Stopped here at 1pm on the 8th August. It's a vast improvement on what was there before - as a frequent passing customer I find that there is much more for me and the whole site was a lot cleaner too. I'm not sure putting KFC and the toilets behind a pillar was the wisest thing to do, particularly as it's not all that clear when you enter where the toilets are, but that's what happens when you refit an old site. As Welcome Break haven't taken on the car park, my personal bugbear of the entrance to the car park being poorly signed is still a problem. Posted: 19 Aug 2010, 20:48 MatthewB6323(M) I called in at Pear Tree at midnight last night but they were closed - current opening hours are 7am until 'late'. This means that Waitrose is at present not competing with Marks & Spencer Simply Food at the Wolvercote roundabout for 24 hour grocery shopping; but perhaps this will come. I did return early this afternoon for a coffee and sandwich at Starbucks. The interior has been drastically remodelled, with no immediate clues as to the old layout. A stretch of concrete to the north of the new main entrance exists now only as a piece of contemporary archaeology, marking the course of the old entrance to the old front door. Old signage - some dating back to the days of old Welcome Break - has been ruthlessly removed. The site was fairly busy, with Starbucks the least used - Waitrose was attracting shoppers and KFC lunchers, though I shall miss Burger King. Posted: 10 Jul 2010, 17:42 kevin [ex employee 1987-1988 just let you know the old out building in the carpark use to be the PICNICS coffee shop serving takeaway food Posted: 14 Jun 2010, 11:16 Alan Peartree is closed for renovaiton just now. The Little Chef's lease expired and Welcome Break have taken Peartree over again. It will have Waitrose, KFC and Starbucks once it's finished apparently. Posted: 25 Apr 2010, 12:03 Hawkhead The services now consist of a Holiday Inn, a Travelodge and a Shell station. However, work is being carried out on the old Little Chef site but when it will open as a going concern, no-one was able to tell us. It will not be a Little Chef. If you are staying at the Travelodge, parking is by Pay Meter and costs £3 per 24 hour period. The Travelodge has no food facilities (other than a "left outside your door" breakfast), although there is a hot drinks machine in the lobby, as well as an ice cream machine. The Holiday Inn has an expensive restaurant, open for two hours at lunch and from 7pm. Also food in the bar area, also expensive. Thumpity-bumpity music in the bar. Holiday Inn has a spa. Also parking but no idea of the cost. Pear Tree Park and Ride into Oxford is but a short and unhazardous walk away! Posted: 25 Apr 2010, 10:30 Johnny Thought I'd start off by saying the previous Little Chef site was awful. The restaurant itself was fine, but the rest of the complex felt so dire and unloved. One time I only stayed a few minutes but managed to watch seven cars struggle to find the car park because it wasn't signed correctly. Similarly the signs for the toilets (located down a narrow cave) didn't indicate which was gents and which was ladies (an important omission I'd have thought). Let's hope things change now Welcome Break have taken control. Oh, and the toilets have often been dirty when I've visited. Posted: 12 Apr 2010, 21:20 Admin Now it's becoming a bit more of a mainstream TRSA, post your comments and reviews for Peartree services here, or you can return to Peartree. Posted: 12 Apr 2010, 21:08
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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