Draft:Taunton Deane services
| Taunton Deane Services | |
|---|---|
 General view from the M5 | |
| Information | |
| County | Somerset |
| Road | M5 |
| Coordinates: | 50°58′35″N 3°08′48″W / 50.9765°N 3.1466°W |
| Operator | Roadchef |
| Date opened | 15 April 1977 |
| Website | www |
Taunton Deane services is a double sided motorway service station on the M5 near Taunton, England. It is owned by Roadchef.
Location
The services are located between junctions 25 and 26 of the M5 motorway in Somerset. There are two sites, one for each direction connected by a walk bridge.[1] After a spate of suicides by hanging, the bridge had anti-suicide bars installed.
History
Construction was started by Linked Group Construction of Cheshire, costing £0.75m, who had earlier built Sandbach services in 1976.[2] The cowboy building firm collapsed, and construction was held up by nine months. Warings of Portsmouth took over, and completed the service area in nine weeks.[3]
The southbound site fully opened on Friday 15 April 1977. The site had seating for 250. Roadchef managing director was Clive Lindley.[4][5][6] There was limited catering on the northbound site, at the time of opening.
Facilities
The site employs around 130 people. In 2012, they were awarded RoadChef's Heroes of the Year Awards.[7]
A Costa Coffee drive thru opened on the southbound services in 2019.[8] A corresponding northbound drive thru opened the following year.[9]
Cleanliness
The services were notorious in the early 2000s for its poor cleanliness rating. In general, the southbound side receives better ratings than the northbound side. In 2012, the Food Standards Agency gave both sides a rating of 5, showing improvement.[10]
External links
- Official website northbound
- Official website southbound
References
- ^ "Taunton Deane". RoadChef. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- ^ Staffordshire Sentinel Thursday 12 August 1976, page 9
- ^ Western Daily Press Saturday 16 April 1977, page 6
- ^ Bristol Evening Post Wednesday 13 April 1977, page 8
- ^ Western Daily Press Wednesday 13 April 1977, page 5
- ^ Bristol Evening Post Saturday 16 April 1977, page 3
- ^ "Taunton Deane Services scoop awards". Somerset County Gazette. 18 March 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- ^ "Costa Drive Thru opens at Roadchef Taunton Deane Services". Somerset County Gazette. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- ^ "Roadchef's second Costa Drive Thru at Taunton Deane". Somerset County Gazette. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- ^ Agency, Food Standards. "Food Standards Agency - Search for food hygiene ratings". ratings.food.gov.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2018.