Former shop area at Ilminster, located at the back left corner of the amenity building, opposite the toilets. The last brand to occupy this unit was SPAR, which opened in 2021 and closed later that year. Before that, it was Sainsbury’s local which opened as part of the redevelopment of this amenity building in 2020. The lack of shop here brings trade to the filling station, which is the only shop onsite. No shop also makes the interior of Ilminster’s amenity building seem smaller & more basic, with just two food units. This shop takes up a significant portion of the interior of the amenity building and if it doesn’t get reused, it’s a big waste of space. EG could consider adding two more food units and extra seating in this unit, however, the annual footfall of Ilminster wouldn’t warrant these changes and it wouldn’t be profitable enough. The permanent closure of Spar also meant the loss of several small concessions within this amenity building. Before it closed, this convenience store provided snacks and essentials, useful for customers of Travelodge and of the amenity building itself, making an A303 stop. It was a modern, brightly lit store, now just a closed shutter with customers walking past to use the toilets. This pic also evidences a back entrance, which would have been there when this was Little Chef. Travelodge is opposite this back entrance. EG have plenty of other SPAR stores still open at other sites of theirs, however, most A303 sites, such as this, Countess and Podimore, no longer have convenience stores. You’d think they would close food units instead, but there’s no obligation for A-Road rest areas to provide customers shops or a wide variety of facilities. Sainsbury’s was never signposted from the road and neither was SPAR, but both used to be advertised at multiple points around the site. Now, these are empty spaces on totem poles.

Photo taken on 04/04/2024 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Ilminster, EG Group, A303, SPAR