BP Ashchurch Service Station, Gloucestershire

Well, Ashchurch nr Tewkesbury is my old hometown, so I felt that I should probably review this here petrol station to give it a local's point of view. It's situated very closely to Junction 9 of the M5, so if you're running out of petrol/diesel after a long journey then it's in an excellent spot to stop off and top up. It's also very close to a large industrial estate so caters well for lorrys as well with a separate area for them to fill up.
...the site as well for those who require other facilities that the garage has to offer other than petrol. And of course an air and vaccum area. Though these tend to be faulty at times I've found, so be careful. There is also a cash point to the side of the building, which has been a saviour at various times on my way for a night out because there isn't another one around for miles!

Being so close to a motorway junction means that petrol ... more

Well, Ashchurch nr Tewkesbury is my old hometown, so I felt that I should probably review this here petrol station to give it a local's point of view. It's situated very closely to Junction 9 of the M5, so if you're running out of petrol/diesel after a long journey then it's in an excellent spot to stop off and top up. It's also very close to a large industrial estate so caters well for lorrys as well with a separate area for them to fill up.

There's a small amount of parking on the site as well for those who require other facilities that the garage has to offer other than petrol. And of course an air and vaccum area. Though these tend to be faulty at times I've found, so be careful. There is also a cash point to the side of the building, which has been a saviour at various times on my way for a night out because there isn't another one around for miles!

Being so close to a motorway junction means that petrol isn't generally the cheapest it could be, but when you've got to fill up it can't be an issue - but it's not somewhere that I would intentionally fill up at if I could help it, but unfortunately due to its location and the size of Tewkesbury there isn't another garage for a short while.

The garage itself is fairly big, it's been done up within the last 5 years or so and looks a lot newer and cleaner, more friendlier certainly since it's been done. Its stock includes the usual garage haunts such as chocolate and snack food for truckers, but also microwaveable meals, large stock of alcohol, magazines, and the usual car maintenance stock. Which is always helpful. They do the mobile top ups but don't top up electricity and/or gas cards like some local places do. Which has caused a slight annoyance in the past. But, I believe it's 24 hours so this outweighs the cons.

Also on the site is a Coffee Bean place, selling overpriced hot drinks and cakes to eat in or take out. There is also toilets and supposedly there's an internet cafe, but I've never seen it. Just a 2 minute walk from the garage itself theres another carpark and a Little Chef restaurant for those who have been travelling for a while and need a proper food break. I wouldn't really recommend it, but when needs must I guess.

Overall, the garage has its up and down points, like any garage. Because of it's location petrol is usually about 3p more than most places, and the air and vaccum machines are usually faulty (or maybe that's just when I want to use them), and there's quite limited parking, so if it's busy then you may have trouble.
However, the good points are that it's close to a local housing estate so when you run out of milk or even worse, chocolate then there's somewhere to go! Also there's the cash point and the large stock of alcohol that's always useful. At the end of the day, it's there for conviences sake, which is great because it not only serves motorway users but the local community too.  

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