Severn View Services
The main building
Severn View Services is located in Gloucestershire
Severn View Services
Severn View Services
Location within Gloucestershire
Information
CountyGloucestershire
RoadM4 (1966-1996)
M48 (1996-present)
Coordinates:51°36′12″N 2°37′11″W / 51.603241°N 2.619668°W / 51.603241; -2.619668
OperatorMoto Hospitality
Previous name(s)Aust
Date opened1966[1]
WebsiteMoto

Severn View services, formerly Aust Services is a motorway service station on the M48 motorway near the village of Aust, northwest of Bristol, in South West England. It is owned by Moto.

History

Old building

The service was constructed by Higgs and Hill Ltd as part of the M4 motorway contract between Aust and Almondsbury.[2] The original services building was built near the edge of the cliff, allowing visitors to see the bridge and the Severn Estuary. A 1978 Government report stated that this service station had the largest public cafeteria in the United Kingdom.[3]

When the road was diverted over the Second Severn Crossing it was expected that these services would close. The original building which offered views of the River Severn was closed and sold[4] and operations moved to an adjacent site.

New building

It has been owned by Moto Hospitality since the company was founded in 2001, making it one of the first Motorway Services to be operated by Moto. Burger King is the only surviving brand that has been operating there since 2001.

Despite Moto's take over, the mini amusement arcade in the services, Gscape, remained there from the days when Granada owned the service station despite being Granada branded, as Granada created the 'Gscape' arcades to appear exclusively within their services, with the "G" in the logo being the same G that Granada had in their logo. The 'Gscape' branding was removed in the 2010s.

A sign located beside the A403 road some distance before approaching the roundabout that serves the service station has generated some interest. The sign, depicting a pictograph symbol of a bed, is supposed to identify that the service station has a hotel, although the sign appears some distance outside the service station and gives no direction to get there.[5] It was erected when Granada bought the service station, and the same sign is normally seen in other service stations once owned by Granada, inside the service station's entrance.

The 2019 Motorway Services User Survey found that Severn View had the lowest level of customer satisfaction of motorway services in the UK.[6]

Incidents

The services have been linked to several suicides, as drivers can abandon cars in the car park and walk out onto the bridge or the cliff face with minimal supervision.[7][8] The Manic Street Preachers' Richey Edwards' car was reported as abandoned in the service station car park on 17 February 1995. He had been missing since checking out of a hotel in Bayswater, London on 1 February. His whereabouts remain unknown,[9][10] but in 2008 he was legally declared to be presumed dead.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Motorway Services Trivia - Chronology Archived 2 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine - Accessed 21 January 2009
  2. ↑ "M4 : Aust (J21) to Almondsbury (J20)". The Motorway Archive. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  3. ↑ Parker, Mike (2013). Mapping the Roads. AA Publishing. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-7495-7435-2.
  4. ↑ "Aust / Severn View Services". Motorway Service Area Trivia site. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  5. ↑ "Severn View - motorway services". Motorway Services Online.
  6. ↑ Smithers, Rebecca (31 July 2019). "Severn Bridge services named as worst on England's motorways". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  7. ↑ "Severn Bridge body remains mystery". BBC News. 15 July 2001. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "Missing man's car found at bridge". BBC News. 8 August 2005. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  9. ↑ "Richey Edwards case closed: how 14 years of hope ended". The Guardian. 29 November 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  10. ↑ "What happened to Richey Edwards? 20 years after Bristol sightings Manic Street Preacher's disappearance remains mystery". Bristol Post. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "Missing guitarist 'presumed dead'". BBC News. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
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