Costa lounge at Clacket Lane West, situated next to the entrance within the food court area. Costa’s immediate location to the entrance means customers can’t miss it. It’s also a vital brand at Clacket Lane as it provides coffee for tired motorists all hours of the day (24 hours). It’s a large lounge and replaced Cafe Continental around 2000. It’s likely the situation of this coffee shop and its layout hasn’t changed since 1993 when the site opened. The unit consists of its own seating area. Costa is often penalised at motorway services due to their significantly inflated pricing structures. They don’t loose trade because of this necessarily, but Roadchef sites, such as here, have McDonalds which does a similar trade with regards to coffee, and is cheaper. It’s possible that this lounge has a small amount of trade taken to the drive thru Costa kiosk here, as some drivers won’t want to park and stop to use this Costa. Oddly, Costa was completely empty during my visit, which is strange as the time was 9am, which is typically when Costa is busier. Costa is signposted from the M25, but as a drive thru. Costa is also advertised frequently around the building, so customers are aware of both this amenity building location and the drive thru kiosk.

Photo taken on 21/12/2023 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Clacket Lane, Costa, Roadchef, M25