In answer to the OP if you want to build/open up a successful truckstops model your business on The Orwell Crossing!
Retro rob:
In answer to the OP if you want to build/open up a successful truckstops model your business on The Orwell Crossing!
or The Stockyard
shuttlespanker:
Retro rob:
In answer to the OP if you want to build/open up a successful truckstops model your business on The Orwell Crossing!or The Stockyard
True, although I’m not a lover of The Stockyard showers! I get shy!
Retro rob:
shuttlespanker:
Retro rob:
In answer to the OP if you want to build/open up a successful truckstops model your business on The Orwell Crossing!or The Stockyard
True, although I’m not a lover of The Stockyard showers! I get shy!
having never over nighted at the stockyard, i can’t comment 
ERFMarc:
Muckaway:
Plenty of boarded up Little Chefs that could be redeveloped, that are attached to service stations. Anyone fancy reopening the Woodview cafe at Wittering?Woodview has got no slip road and approaching traffic doesn’t get much chance to see you and move over. I’ve sat there for five minutes before. Kates Cabin is open again now.
The works storage area just off junction 12 at Flitwick would be a good location.
Kate’s cabin was completely dead when I pulled up there the other day at around 16.00 which is a shame, I feel guilty for not eating there and supporting the cause
shuttlespanker:
Retro rob:
shuttlespanker:
Retro rob:
In answer to the OP if you want to build/open up a successful truckstops model your business on The Orwell Crossing!or The Stockyard
True, although I’m not a lover of The Stockyard showers! I get shy!
having never over nighted at the stockyard, i can’t comment
They are communal with only half a door type thing spearing everyone from seeing my scrawny ugly body, unlike Orwell which are a completely separate well cleaned and presented room!
tha`d be rate downt pit…you had to wash each others back
Just don’t drop the soap.
FarnboroughBoy11:
Just don’t drop the soap.
If ya do kick it all the way back to the cab 
green456:
re-opening a closed down transport café is not a good idea in my opinion
there’s a reason it closed and you can be sure it isn’t cos it was making a profit
I fail to see how most “truck stops” aren’t profitable, the better they are, the more expensive, which figures… But when you look at somewhere like the hollies, £12 just to park in a mud bath, if you don’t break a spring that is, they’ve got a lot of £12’s in there every night, even once you take Hitlers wage out, it’s still a lot of money going through the till. At least the foods ok
The one thing I failed to mention in my posting. The lay by that I was appalled by? I could virtually see the off slip for J1 Welford. Now, Welford was never what you would call expensive, yet drivers would still rather stop in a lay by.
( I once employed a driver, salaried, all expenses paid, strict instructions not to stay in lay bys, pay to park if it suits. He never did. Couldn’t get him to park sensibly 
)
MR VAIN:
The one thing I failed to mention in my posting. The lay by that I was appalled by? I could virtually see the off slip for J1 Welford. Now, Welford was never what you would call expensive, yet drivers would still rather stop in a lay by.( I once employed a driver, salaried, all expenses paid, strict instructions not to stay in lay bys, pay to park if it suits. He never did. Couldn’t get him to park sensibly
Maybe the cardboard sign blew down in the wind? 
ERFMarc:
Muckaway:
Plenty of boarded up Little Chefs that could be redeveloped, that are attached to service stations. Anyone fancy reopening the Woodview cafe at Wittering?Woodview has got no slip road and approaching traffic doesn’t get much chance to see you and move over. I’ve sat there for five minutes before. Kates Cabin is open again now.
The works storage area just off junction 12 at Flitwick would be a good location.
+1
Tell you something. There have been many crashes with a few fatels with vehicles coming out of that slip road. The owner who i have met a few times wasn’t making anything because of the garage. Drivers were turning up when the cafe was closed and was paying the garage the money. Well you guessed it the garage were keeping it and the cafe was losing out. The rent was also going up. The land there needs a good going over. Theres rats all over the place, and when i was knocking about that area i asked the land owners to get a skip to pick the rubbish up as it was attracting Rats. it was also a fuel nicking hot spot area, which if you can remember i was shot down in flames for giving advice about it.
green456:
re-opening a closed down transport café is not a good idea in my opinion
there’s a reason it closed and you can be sure it isn’t cos it was making a profit
Most transport cafes close down for reasons that could be addressed if they were prepared to. Poor value and food quality, poor surface in the parking area, poor security.
All this could be corrected if the owners were prepared to invest. A well run, clean , secure and high quality food establishment would make decent money.
A business like this fails generally because the quality of service and food on offer falls well short of the rates they are charging. Get that equation right and you’d be on to a winner. The location is important of course, but as long as access is reasonably good near main routes etc. no problem.
Truckulent:
green456:
re-opening a closed down transport café is not a good idea in my opinion
there’s a reason it closed and you can be sure it isn’t cos it was making a profitMost transport cafes close down for reasons that could be addressed if they were prepared to. Poor value and food quality, poor surface in the parking area, poor security.
All this could be corrected if the owners were prepared to invest. A well run, clean , secure and high quality food establishment would make decent money.
A business like this fails generally because the quality of service and food on offer falls well short of the rates they are charging. Get that equation right and you’d be on to a winner. The location is important of course, but as long as access is reasonably good near main routes etc. no problem.
I disagree. The standards of all the above that you mentioned begin to fall when there is already no profit in it to invest .How many drivers do you see parked on a transport caffs park eating their own sandwiches and getting the flask out. However you are entitled to your opinion and I look forward to visiting your establishment in the near future
green456:
Truckulent:
green456:
re-opening a closed down transport café is not a good idea in my opinion
there’s a reason it closed and you can be sure it isn’t cos it was making a profitMost transport cafes close down for reasons that could be addressed if they were prepared to. Poor value and food quality, poor surface in the parking area, poor security.
All this could be corrected if the owners were prepared to invest. A well run, clean , secure and high quality food establishment would make decent money.
A business like this fails generally because the quality of service and food on offer falls well short of the rates they are charging. Get that equation right and you’d be on to a winner. The location is important of course, but as long as access is reasonably good near main routes etc. no problem.
I disagree. The standards of all the above that you mentioned begin to fall when there is already no profit in it to invest .How many drivers do you see parked on a transport caffs park eating their own sandwiches and getting the flask out. However you are entitled to your opinion and I look forward to visiting your establishment in the near future
+1
Not morally right but the truck stops i liked were the ones that would charge you £10 but give a receipt of £15.
so what makes the stockyard so successful 
and what about the red lion…its chocka every night.ditto lincoln farm. all we need is a good feed, a wash/shower and a pint. give us those 3 things and well overlook the parking surface.
commonrail:
so what makes the stockyard so successfuls chocka every night.ditto lincoln farm. all we need is a good feed, a wash/shower and a pint. give us those 3 things and well overlook the parking surface.
Can’t comment on The Red Lion or Lincoln Farm as never stopped there, The Stockyard and Orwell Crossing are good because the parking is Tarmac/concrete, not overly expensive and the food (especially the carvery) is fresh and well cooked and value for money, as previously discussed The Stockyard showers aren’t as good as Orwell but that’s just my personal very humble opinion! Orwell showers are separate rooms with sink and are cleaned after EVERY use!
I remember the coach crash fatal near Woodview as I didn’t miss it by too many minutes. Just highlights how bad the slip road was, it surprised me the cafe and petrol station were allowed to stay open, though maybe they thought closing the gap at Thornhaugh would solve the problem.
Maybe it suffered as there is a big free parking area on the A1/A47 junction (all them single men in cars means diesel thieves can’t get a minutes peace!) or maybe some people were swayed by the hellhole that is Peterborough services when that was built (help is available for those people). That 20-30 mile stretch of the A1 is well served by Kate’s Cabin, Stibbington, Colsterworth, The Fox etc plus I saw a sign on the Black Cat roundabout that suggests something may appear there in the future.
I’ve stayed in some good ones…such as the Cabin down at Horsham (friendly service, good food), PJ’s at Sudbury (ditto) and I even rate Jacks Hill. Some hate it but you pay for what you get and at £11 it’s cheaper than the Red Lion and your not going to get woken up by ‘pedestrians’ like at the Super Sausage (the Red Lion is good but seems to attract it’s fair share of the I got chalked at an RDC brigade). The best free place I have stopped at is Avon Heath in Dorset. Quiet, the cafe is open till 8 in the summer and nice to chill out with a beer in the sunshine.
Whitwood doesn’t come very high on my list though.
When I was doing nights out I used hgvparking.com I tried to feedback with a few new areas but it doesn’t seem to have been updated much recently.
The gap that has been filled in near Thornough was due to the gent who died on his motorcycle. He was a HGV driver for Whitworths Brothers. Good thing they closed that gap as it was right on top of a hill. After the coach crash there were rumors that the slip was going to be made bigger and a flyover was also going to be built near RAF Wittering from the southbound going over the northbound in to the village. nothing came of it though as usual
That coach crash was it when the driver stopped in lane 1 due to breaking down with a full load of people on it?