History
The original service station opened with the M5 and M50 motorways in November 1962, though none of the original buildings survive in use. The M5, which was built with dual two-lane carriageways, was extended southwards, from junction 8 in 1969, with dual three-lane carriageways. It was widened between junctions 3 and 8 to dual three-lane carriageways in the early 1990s including a remodelling of junction 8 (M50). The proximity of the northbound area to the remodelled junction would have caused issues with traffic trying to join and leave the motorway and so it was relocated half a mile to the north on a new larger site in 1991. The exit from the southbound services has been altered to feed directly into the M50 junction. The former northbound area is now in use as a maintenance area, though due to the motorway widening this can now only be accessed from the local road network.
Wychavon District Council refused to renew the gambling machine permit for the service area in 1994, under its policy not to allow gambling machines in areas where food was sold to the public. The Kenning Motor Group, who operated the service area at the time went to the High Court to overturn the decision.
In 1994 the service area was subject to a management buyout, led by Nick Turner, who had been running the site for the previous three years. It was announced the services would trade under the new name, Take a Break. At the time RoadChef unsuccessfully showed interest in purchasing the site, it wasn't until 2001, by purchasing Take A Break that RoadChef started operating at the Strensham site.
Strensham was one of two test sites chosen by RoadChef for a new loyalty card scheme in 2005. The cards themselves used new technology to physically display the points total on the card. The loyalty scheme is no longer in use today.
In July 2008 RoadChef started a trial at the southbound site by replacing the Wimpy fast food franchise with a McDonalds outlet, previously only four UK motorway service areas had McDonalds franchises. If this trial was deemed to be successful, RoadChef plan to replace more Wimpy franchises. As part of this trial signs for the southbound area were changed to show the operator name as "McDonalds Costa", although the RoadChef brand is still used at the services itself. The refurbishment created around 80 jobs in the local area.
Since the Southbound refurbishment, all Wimpy outlets have closed to be replaced by own brand The Burger Company. It is thought that this is just a 'holding' brand prior to a full-scale refurbishment. Due to the success of the trial Roadchef have refurbished more sites (including Strensham Northbound) to include The Hot Food Company (Restaurant) and McDonald's.
Read more about this topic: Strensham Services
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