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Content:
Welcome Break
From Motorway Services Online
| Welcome Break | |
 | |
| Locations: | 26 |
| Introduced: | 1980s |
| Predecessors: | Trusthouse Forte, Ross |
| Acquired by: | Appia Investments |
| Chief executive: | Rod McKie |
| Headquarters address: | 2 Vantage Court, Tickford Street, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, MK16 9EZ [map] |
| Phone number: | 01908 299700 |
| Website: www.welcomebreak.co.uk | |
Contents |
Company History
Welcome Break started in the early '80s and created four "highly respected" sites. They were bought by Trusthouse Forte in 1986 who decided that Welcome Break is so popular that they would be better off re-branding all of Forte's services as Welcome Break, rather than doing it the traditional way round.
In 1995 Forte announced that they were going to build a McDonalds at every one of their services, but the process was stopped after just two because Forte were acquired by Granada, a deal which included Welcome Break. Granada described Welcome Break's original concept as "still looking good", but that they "have not been kept up to date". Granada then said that they wanted to add Burger King to all the services and make use of the Travelodge chain which they had also acquired as part of the deal, and that in doing this they wanted to make a much-doubted £500m from the deal.
Just months after buying them, Granada upped the prices at all of their services given that they now owned over 75% of the motorway market, for example the M4 is 189 miles long and yet the only services which weren't owned by Granada were at the very end. It's not surprising that they did make their £500m.
By now, Granada had grown so much they were investigated by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, who insisted that they sold Welcome Break. Eventually it was bought by Investcorp for £476million, but the whole event took almost 2 years - a time which angered many people, especially RoadChef. Welcome Break didn't get all their services back, many smaller a-road services like Sutton Scotney on the A34 were kept by Granada, but they shrunk it down and sold it off a few years later.
During the shake-up, Granada had fixed franchises for Little Chef and Travelodge for all their services, so after the split Welcome Break had to replace them with their own-branded Red Hen and Welcome Lodge respectively, although these have now been phased out themselves.
After making a profit for the first time in a while, Investcorp put Welcome Break up for sale in 2008 with a price of around £500million. They were bought by Appia Investments, although the exact price is not known.
Welcome Break Today
Welcome Break own a lot of the older sites, like Charnock Richard and the second-oldest in the country, Newport Pagnell. In the late 1990s they opened a series of more modern sites, including Telford and Hopwood Park.
Today Welcome Break is well equipped for the future. They have just finished their latest refurbishment scheme, including one for some £1,000,000 "stylish" toilet blocks. Starbucks Coffee opened at Corley in 2006 and WH Smith recently had a successful trial at Newport Pagnell, since then they have made their way to all Welcome Breaks. They tried Sainsbury's at Birchanger Green but it was quietly removed a few months later. Instead, they are currently trialling Waitrose mini-stores at Oxford and South Mimms.
All of their services now have truckwash facilities and as part of a move with their own-brand Coffee Primo, Welcome Break have created a new 'Coffee Primo Lounge'. This involved painting the exterior of their services orange, then they changed it to red (for KFC) and now all the older concrete Welcome Break and adjacent hotels are painted black and grey. They have also refurbished a Routemaster bus to go on tour with Coffee Primo facilities.
Having completed their long-term project to change people's impression of Welcome Break (a project which including running the Eurotunnel UK terminal's catering facilities), the company are looking at building new services in Ireland and on a-roads. These would be their first new services for a number of years.
In 2007 and 2008 Welcome Break did very well in the Loo of the Year Awards, which until then had been dominated by Moto. In 2008, out of 36 graded services, 30 of them won five stars and the remaining six all four stars. Overall, out of all the country's public toilets graded, Welcome Break's facilities came eighth, beaten by the likes of McDonalds and ASDA. They were awarded a 'Standards of Excellence' (Champions League) award.
In 2009, Welcome Break launched 'Welcome Break Radio' to rival Moto's special stream of Virgin Radio and their predecessor's Granada Radio. They recently opened a new facility at the Eurotunnel Freight Terminal and are due to shake-up their coach driver benefits system.
Logo History
Until 2006 Welcome Break used the almost iconic image of a bird (which was often described as being dead) as its logo. This image was redesigned in the late '90s, with the original one being pictured to the right. (The slightly improved one between 2000 and 2006 can be seen in the photo gallery).
All their services now use a mural which resembles its location, with the words 'Welcome Break' in white and green-on-black. Welcome Break have also teamed up with KFC to appear on their road signs, but they've previously used Sainsbury's, Burger King and Coffee Primo.
Facilities
Welcome Break's facilities include:
General: Cash Machine, Picnic Tables, Pay Phones, Local Information, Meeting Rooms, BT Openzone, Alpine Cleaning Services, Traffic Information, Showers
Restaurants: KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Eat In, Coffee Primo
Shops: WH Smith, Fonebitz, Waitrose
Fuel: Shell, BP
Motel: Days Inn
Welcome Break Services
The following sites are run by Welcome Break:- Abington (M74/A74(M))
- Birchanger Green (M11)
- Burtonwood (M62)
- Cardiff Gate (M4)
- Charnock Richard (M6)
- Corley (M6)
- Derby South (A6/A50)
- Eurotunnel UK Terminal (M20)
- Fleet (M3)
- Gordano (M5)
- Gretna Green (A74(M))
- Hartshead Moor (M62)
- Hopwood Park (M42)
- Keele (M6)
- Leicester Forest East (M1)
- London Gateway (M1)
- Membury (M4)
- Michaelwood (M5)
- Newport Pagnell (M1)
- Oxford (M40)
- Sarn Park (M4)
- Sedgemoor (North) (M5) (northbound only)
- South Mimms (M25/A1(M))
- Telford (M54)
- Warwick (M40)
- Woodall (M1)
Former Services
The following services were owned by Welcome Break:
- Burtonwood westbound (M62)
- Copdock (A12/A14)
- Oxford Peartree (A34/A40/A44)
- Pease Pottage (M23/A23)
- Ross Spur (M50/A40)
- Sutton Scotney (A34)
Comments and Reviews
With thanks to the users 'Ziathon', 'webtat' and 'Roadhog_001' for the information used on this page.
