Slade End Service Station, Cambridgeshire

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'''About Slade End'''

Slade End, is one of two petrol stations in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire the other being West Park Street, both of them are Budgens and BP garages, ran by James Graven and Son, who also owns a garage in Ely, and a couple of Budgens stores in Soham and Dersingham. The owner, is the one and only Jonathan James, I met him a few times, and he was generous enough to pay for the wine at our Christmas Party ...
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The Slade End garage is located just off the roundabout which joins the A142 and the A141, so has traffic to Huntingdon, March and Ely passing it regularly, it is the bigger petrol station in Chatteris, with West Park Street being more of a convenience store.

''' So what do you get at Slade End?'''

The first answer to that question has to be the most obvious, Petrol and Diesel. Slade End has 8 petrol ... more

Whilst browsing through various products on Ciao, I was flabbergasted to see this particular category, and well, I thought - who better to write a review on this lil Petrol Station than someone who knows it inside out. Someone who has been on both sides of the tills. Yes, that's right, this review doesn't just cover the delights of the petrol station in general - but has a dash of advice on being an employee!

About Slade End

Slade End, is one of two petrol stations in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire the other being West Park Street, both of them are Budgens and BP garages, ran by James Graven and Son, who also owns a garage in Ely, and a couple of Budgens stores in Soham and Dersingham. The owner, is the one and only Jonathan James, I met him a few times, and he was generous enough to pay for the wine at our Christmas Party in 2007 (I'm sure he regretted that- see later for details).

The Slade End garage is located just off the roundabout which joins the A142 and the A141, so has traffic to Huntingdon, March and Ely passing it regularly, it is the bigger petrol station in Chatteris, with West Park Street being more of a convenience store.

So what do you get at Slade End?

The first answer to that question has to be the most obvious, Petrol and Diesel. Slade End has 8 petrol pumps, as well as one for HGVs and Buses, and supplies Unleaded Petrol, Diesel, and BP's Ultimate Unleaded, which is classed as an advanced performance fuel, which is designed to clean your engine, and give you better performance from your car. BP have also released Ultimate 102, which is a higher octane fuel, although it is not available at Slade End. They also have Ultimate Diesel, which is obviously the diesel version of Ultimate Unleaded.

Slade End also has a car wash, with 3 different settings, the prices of which are very good, the best wash being £5. While I have never used the car wash, mainly owing to the facts that a) I don't drive and b) Even when I can, I will wash it myself. But I noticed that people regularly use the gold wash, and I never had any complaints from it. Quite often, they have a promotion, where all the washes are half price, meaning that for just £2.50, you get a full wash, or for the bargain price of £1.50 you get the basic whip over.

Not only is there the car wash, but if you fancy doing it a bit yourself, you can pay for the Jet wash, it works on a pay per time system, costing a minimum of £2.00, and is apparently "ideal for the hard to reach areas such as wheels and hub-caps." Well blow me.

Slade End also has the staple piece of equipment every petrol station should have, the trusty air and water pump. Air tokens cost 20p, not an excessive amount, but for a little bit of air which they get from a good supplier for free, you could complain. Certainly since I am pretty sure places like Tesco won't charge you for making sure your tyres are nice and legal. To get your air tokens you have to go in and pay at the till. There is also the vacuum, which works similarly to the jet wash with you paying per minute you use it.

A perhaps rare accessory to the petrol station, but something that has been there ever since it was an Esso garage when I was younger, is the must have piece - a maggot dispenser. Oh yes, that is right, don't just get your petrol, but stock up on some top quality maggots too! Then scoot off to the nearest river and see what you can catch.

Remember before you walk in the store, there is the cash machine and it doesn't charge for withdrawals. Also just out the door, is the newspapers, as well as solid fuel such as coal, with a nice selection of flowers, for those who realised that your going to be an hour late home...

So, let us now venture inside the store...

Slade End has two tills, the main one near the window is always staffed, while the other is used when it is really busy by the assistant manager who is on site, while they are not on the till they stack the shelves and do the admin bits.. *cough* or just sit in the office *cough*. The store stocks the essentials for a petrol station, such as a great variety of chocolate and sweets, refrigerated drinks and magazines. You can also get the basic car bits, oil, anti-freeze etc, this is pretty good for those who live in Chatteris or travel through early, since the store is open early enough that if you need something you can get it before setting off to work. There is also a more convenience side to it, with a good selection of alcohol being on offer and frozen meals, cakes etc.

Behind the tills are the spirits and cigarettes, as well as a few basic medicinal bits, ie Bonjela, asprin, cough medicines, condoms and the like. They have the lottery machine and a selection of starch-cards for all those who are feeling lucky, and a Paypoint for topping up your mobile phone, or buying gas and electricity tokens and the like. You can also pay your TV licence there, all that on the way to work, perfect?

Another advantage with this station is that there is a toilet for travellers to use. Wait, let me re-phrase that, for customers to use. Anyone who knows Chatteris will realise why I can't use the prior sentence.

Pricing

One of the most important things you will probably say is the price of everything, and I am afraid this is where our well stocked, multi-purpose Petrol haven lets you down. Fuel-wise, prices are not the cheapest around, there is no point in me quoting the current price of petrol, a) I can only remember it from a week ago, it will have changed b) when you read this it will probably have changed - but they are normally about a penny or two above that of Tesco. If you are in the locality, and looking for well priced fuel, apparently Sisco's, the garage in nearby Wimblington, is the cheapest in the area- or so I keep reading in my local papers.

General produce-wise again prepared for the premium. 500ml bottled drinks vary from 93p to £1.15, chocolate bars can reach the price of 60p a bar, and the other general bits are not really cheap either. The medicine bits I mentioned earlier are also expensive, I had a phase of using Pro-Plus (waste of money, I fell asleep after taking 16 of them) and it was nearly £3 a pack of 12, compared to £1.50 or something in Tesco. If you are in the area, and are buying little bits, then use your common sense, and don't be lazy, directly opposite Slade End is the Co-Op, much better value for money, and as a supermarket a larger selection.

The Staff

Primarily I worked at the other Chatteris station, West Park Street, but was often drafted over to cover a shift, since I left last March, there has been some staffing changes, with a few new people there that I do not know, but:

Patty - She is really really nice. Very friendly lady, and very polite

Pam - One of the assistant managers, I worked with her a couple of times. Always got on great with her. Again she is very polite and nice.

The rest there I do not know, they are new, but from going in there other times they are always polite and friendly.

One of the classic members of staff that used to work there, albeit before I did, was rather well know amongst the patrons of the station, unfortunately I cannot remember his name to forever immortalise him in the review, but he had just one arm, and that's what made him so well known.

Speed of Service

In general, you will get served rather quickly, just make sure that you know what pump you were at, it is a lot easier than saying "I dunno it's the red car" when there are four or so cars sat out there. At peak times, the queue can get long, sometimes reaching the door and curving round the shop, though this isn't the fault of the workers, its more from the odd awkward customer, or the tills playing up.

Some important points to remember

1 - You must spend at least £5 to pay by card. If not exactly a fiver, thereabouts, depending on who is serving you might get away with £4.36.

2 - Paypoint transactions, ie Phone top up, TV License and bits have to be paid cash. I don't know why, it all goes through the till the same, but that is the rule.

3 - They operate the "Challenge 25" system. Whenever buying cigarettes or alcohol they will ask you to confirm you are over 25 buy pressing the doorbell - a strange thing I know. If not over 25 then ID is required.

4 - The opening hours are very good - daily from 6am to 11pm.

5 - If you are with the Sainsbury Nectar scheme, you can collect Nectar points on all your petrol and shopping.

Working there

I got fired from my first job at a shop in Peterborough in July 2007, and was desperate for a new job to fund my expensive habits of partying, gigs, and in general, food at college. So my darling girlfriend of the time, got me an interview for a job at Budgens. She already worked at the West Park Street store. I primarily worked on the Hot Food Counter in that store, but did a bit of overtime as a cashier on the tills, which is what brought me over to Slade End.

The tills are really simple to use, they are touch screen, and follow common sense. Only problem is sometimes you have to press rather hard if you don't have nails - using coins people are paying with is always good. In the supreme generosity of Mr. Jonathan James, you are paid minimum wage if over 21. For those 16-18, the rate is something like £4.80, and when you are over 18 you get the over 21 national wage. Not too bad really. You also get discount at all the James Graven stores, not on petrol, but it did include alcohol : ). You also get free car washes!

We also had a Christmas Party, for Slade End and West Park Street, in 2007, at a local pub, The Cross Keys. Jonathan James paid for wine on the tables, I think I went through a few bottles, and then blanked out, waking up the next day at home. Apparently, I managed to tip red wine over his wife, so I wasn't the most popular with the ole Boss.

Conclusion

Obviously, as a Petrol Station it serves its purpose, having all the facilities needed of such a building. The main downside is the price, cheaper petrol can be found elsewhere, and that is even more the case in terms of the general produce in the shop, but that doesn't stop people using it.

If you are in need of Petrol whilst casually driving through Chatteris (why? Please why?) then by all means use Slade End, it is convenient and I don't doubt that when I am on the road I will be using it. 

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