Welcome Break
Encyclopedia
Welcome Break is a company which operates thirty-five motorway service stations in the UK
. It is the second largest motorway service area operator behind Moto
.
near Milton Keynes
by Motorway Services Ltd was the company's first service area under the Forte name and was only the second service area to be constructed on the fledgling UK motorway network. The company's portfolio was expanded to five motorway service areas during periods under the ownership of the Imperial Group and subsequently the Hanson Trust
before being purchased by Trusthouse Forte in 1986. Under this deal, the Welcome Break name was adopted across the entire estate, with Trusthouse Forte's sixteen existing service areas re-branded as Welcome Break.
motels and Days Hotel at other sites other than their own, at Services and Town/City locations:
. Due to Granada's existing major presence in the motorway services market, a subsequent investigation by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission ordered Granada to sell 27 of the Welcome Break sites. The company was eventually bought by Investcorp
in 1997 for £476m. Investcorp then sold Welcome Break to Appia Investments in March 2008 for £500m.
The facilities available at Welcome Break service areas varies at each site, with most sites open 24 hours a day throughout the year. Typically, each service area comprises a café or restaurant, a retail outlet, a hotel and a petrol station. All sites have WHSmith, Burger King
, an eat-in restaurant, a coffee shop (Starbucks Coffee or Coffee Primo) and a petrol station (Shell
or BP
).
, Peterborough
and Stevenage
in July 2009, each three have reopened as Days Inn taking its total to 26.
restaurant, which is at most Welcome Break Services.
stores have been introduced at the majority of Welcome Break sites as a replacement for the traditional unbranded retail outlets. Initially launched as a trial store at the Newport Pagnell site in February 2007, W H Smith stores have now been rolled out across the Welcome Break portfolio.
has franchise stores across many services including, Hopwood, Fleet, Warwick North, Oxford, Membury West, Corley North, South Mimms, Gordano & Cardiff Gate.
chain Starbucks
was opened on a trial basis at Corley services
on the M6 motorway
. However in 2010 they have now opened at other service areas and has started replacing Coffee Primo with Starbucks outlets, including Woodall, Hartshead Moor
, Warwick, Hopwood, Oxford, Gordano, Cardiff Gate, Fleet, and Sedgemoor.
, iPad
, iPod
, Laptop
, electronic and car accessories in general.
licensee, operating KFC fast food
restaurants at 24 of its service areas. In May 2005, Welcome Break announced a deal with KFC designed to bypass tough UK motorway signage legislation. UK law currently prevents motorway service area operators from displaying additional brand names other than their own company name on roadside signage. In order to circumvent this restriction, a new subsidiary company "Welcome Break KFC" was registered.
have franchises at most services.
to every one of the services, but the process was stopped after just two because Forte
were acquired by Granada (now Moto
), a deal which included Welcome Break and lost out to Burger King
being added instead. There are only two McDonalds now at Fleet services and Woodall services
.
will be providing fast and normal electric vehicle charging station
s at 14 of the service stations, linking London in the south with Exeter in the west and Edinburgh in the north.
Welcome Break introduced a new company logo in September 2006. The swan
, integral to the previous company logo, has been removed. The new logo features a black background with the words 'welcome' and 'break' in green and white respectively. Each site now also has a large mural depicting a local landmark unique to that site. Many of these were commissioned from artist David Fisher
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is the second largest motorway service area operator behind Moto
Moto Hospitality
Moto Hospitality is a company which operates 58 motorway service stations across the UK.Moto is owned by a consortium of shareholders including Australian Pension Funds and European and New Zealand Infrastructure Funds and is asset managed by Macquarie Investment Bank...
.
History
Opened in 1960, the service area at Newport Pagnell on the M1 motorwayM1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
near Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
by Motorway Services Ltd was the company's first service area under the Forte name and was only the second service area to be constructed on the fledgling UK motorway network. The company's portfolio was expanded to five motorway service areas during periods under the ownership of the Imperial Group and subsequently the Hanson Trust
Hanson plc
Hanson plc is a British based international building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index for many years, the company was acquired by a division of German rival Heidelberg Cement in August 2007.-History:Hanson...
before being purchased by Trusthouse Forte in 1986. Under this deal, the Welcome Break name was adopted across the entire estate, with Trusthouse Forte's sixteen existing service areas re-branded as Welcome Break.
Separately owned Motels and Hotels
Welcome Break also operate Days InnDays Inn
Days Inn is a motel chain headquartered in the United States. Founded in 1970, it is now a part of the Wyndham Hotel Group, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, which was formerly a part of Cendant...
motels and Days Hotel at other sites other than their own, at Services and Town/City locations:
- Days InnDays InnDays Inn is a motel chain headquartered in the United States. Founded in 1970, it is now a part of the Wyndham Hotel Group, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, which was formerly a part of Cendant...
Peterborough services (A1(M) - Days InnDays InnDays Inn is a motel chain headquartered in the United States. Founded in 1970, it is now a part of the Wyndham Hotel Group, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, which was formerly a part of Cendant...
Cambridge services (A14) - Days InnDays InnDays Inn is a motel chain headquartered in the United States. Founded in 1970, it is now a part of the Wyndham Hotel Group, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, which was formerly a part of Cendant...
Stevenage Baldock servicesBaldock servicesBaldock services is a motorway service station on the A1 motorway near Baldock in Hertfordshire, England. It is operated by Extra. Work on the service area started in March 2000, with the services opening on 22 January 2001... - Days InnDays InnDays Inn is a motel chain headquartered in the United States. Founded in 1970, it is now a part of the Wyndham Hotel Group, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, which was formerly a part of Cendant...
Winchester services - Days Hotel London Stansted
Split from Trusthouse Forte
In January 1996, the Forte Group was the subject of a £3.9 billion hostile takeover by the British media group GranadaGranada Ltd.
Granada plc is a former British conglomerate which was best known as the former parent of the Manchester-based Granada Television....
. Due to Granada's existing major presence in the motorway services market, a subsequent investigation by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission ordered Granada to sell 27 of the Welcome Break sites. The company was eventually bought by Investcorp
Investcorp
Investcorp is a manager of alternative investment products, serving high-net-worth private and institutional clients. Its principal client base is in the six countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council, but it also has institutional clients in North America and Europe...
in 1997 for £476m. Investcorp then sold Welcome Break to Appia Investments in March 2008 for £500m.
Facilities
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
, an eat-in restaurant, a coffee shop (Starbucks Coffee or Coffee Primo) and a petrol station (Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
or BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
).
Days Inn
The majority of hotels at Welcome Break service areas are franchises of Days Inn; many of these were once branded under Welcome Break's own brand, "Welcome Lodge" - the last of these, at Newport Pagnell and Charnock Richard, were rebranded to Days Inns in May 2009 and also took over operation of three former PURPLE hotels at CambridgeCambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
and Stevenage
Stevenage
Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....
in July 2009, each three have reopened as Days Inn taking its total to 26.
Eat In
Welcome Break's own brand Self-ServiceSelf-service
Self service is the practice of serving oneself, usually when purchasing items. Common examples include many gas stations, where the customer pumps their own gas rather than have an attendant do it...
restaurant, which is at most Welcome Break Services.
WHSmith
Recently, Welcome Break service areas have followed the industry-wide trend towards partnership with High Street brands. W H SmithW H Smith
WHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...
stores have been introduced at the majority of Welcome Break sites as a replacement for the traditional unbranded retail outlets. Initially launched as a trial store at the Newport Pagnell site in February 2007, W H Smith stores have now been rolled out across the Welcome Break portfolio.
Waitrose
WaitroseWaitrose
Waitrose Limited is an upmarket chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom and is the food division of the British retailer and worker co-operative the John Lewis Partnership. Its head office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, England...
has franchise stores across many services including, Hopwood, Fleet, Warwick North, Oxford, Membury West, Corley North, South Mimms, Gordano & Cardiff Gate.
Starbucks
In May 2006, a branch of the international coffeehouseCoffeehouse
A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...
chain Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
was opened on a trial basis at Corley services
Corley services
Corley services is a motorway service station, between junctions 3 and 4 of the M6 motorway in the English county of Warwickshire. It is close to the village of Corley, with the nearest city being Coventry...
on the M6 motorway
M6 motorway
The M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...
. However in 2010 they have now opened at other service areas and has started replacing Coffee Primo with Starbucks outlets, including Woodall, Hartshead Moor
Hartshead Moor services
Hartshead Moor services is a motorway service station on the M62 in West Yorkshire. It is the highest service station in the United Kingdom.-1974 coach bombing:...
, Warwick, Hopwood, Oxford, Gordano, Cardiff Gate, Fleet, and Sedgemoor.
Fone Bitz
Fone Bitz sell electronics across the motorway network and operate at most Welcome Break sites. Fone Bitz sell a range of Mobile PhoneMobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
, iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
, Laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
, electronic and car accessories in general.
Welcome Break Gaming
Welcome Break Gaming is a self branded betting arcade located at all Welcome Break sites, except the Welcome Break operated Days Inn hotels and motels.KFC
Welcome Break is a long-standing KFCKFC
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
licensee, operating KFC fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
restaurants at 24 of its service areas. In May 2005, Welcome Break announced a deal with KFC designed to bypass tough UK motorway signage legislation. UK law currently prevents motorway service area operators from displaying additional brand names other than their own company name on roadside signage. In order to circumvent this restriction, a new subsidiary company "Welcome Break KFC" was registered.
Burger King
Burger KingBurger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
have franchises at most services.
McDonald's
In 1995 it was announced that they were going to add a McDonald'sMcDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
to every one of the services, but the process was stopped after just two because Forte
Forte
Forte/Forté may refer to:*Forte, but often ;. A person's strong point e.g. Preparing gourmet cuisine is his forte. The term is derived from the French fort meaning strength, which does not include an acute accent. The latter pronunciation is likely due to a confusion as a false cognate with the...
were acquired by Granada (now Moto
Moto
Moto or MOTO may refer to:* Moto , a restaurant in Chicago known for its "high-tech" food* Motorola, the American multinational, Fortune 100, telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois* Motorola MOTO, a mobile phone...
), a deal which included Welcome Break and lost out to Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
being added instead. There are only two McDonalds now at Fleet services and Woodall services
Woodall services
Woodall services is a motorway service station on the M1 motorway near Sheffield. It lies between junctions 30 and 31. It was opened in 1968 by Trust House Forte but was renamed Welcome Break after the takeover of the company....
.
Ecotricity
In July 2011 it was announced that the green energy provider EcotricityEcotricity
Ecotricity is a green energy company based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England specialising in selling and generating wind power. It is built on the principle of heavily reinvesting its profit in building more of its own windfarms.-History:...
will be providing fast and normal electric vehicle charging station
Charging station
An electric vehicle charging station, also called EV charging station, electric recharging point, charging point and EVSE , is an element in an infrastructure that supplies electric energy for the recharging of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric-gasoline vehicles) or semi-static and mobile...
s at 14 of the service stations, linking London in the south with Exeter in the west and Edinburgh in the north.
Logo
Swan
Swans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae...
, integral to the previous company logo, has been removed. The new logo features a black background with the words 'welcome' and 'break' in green and white respectively. Each site now also has a large mural depicting a local landmark unique to that site. Many of these were commissioned from artist David Fisher
David Fisher (artist)
David Fisher is an award-winning English artist and designer based in Midsomer Norton, Somerset. He was a prolific designer and painter of pub signs before securing a unique commission to create vast murals to improve UK service stations. He has won many awards including the Holburne Museum of...
.
See also
- RoadChefRoadChefRoadchef is a company which operates twenty motorway service areas in the UK. Behind Moto and Welcome Break, it is the third largest motorway service area operator .-History:...
- MotoMoto HospitalityMoto Hospitality is a company which operates 58 motorway service stations across the UK.Moto is owned by a consortium of shareholders including Australian Pension Funds and European and New Zealand Infrastructure Funds and is asset managed by Macquarie Investment Bank...
- ExtraExtra (service areas)Extra MSA Services Ltd is a company which operates motorway service stations in the United Kingdom, as well as areas on primary routes. It is based on Castle Hill, Lincoln close to Lincoln Cathedral. It is also known as Extra MSA Forecourts Ltd....
- Motorway service station