Non-Official, Offline Motorway Services in Ireland

redtelephone

NRA have updated their policy re Motorway Service Areas

http://www.nra.ie/policy-publications/general-publications/motorway-service-areas/Motorway-Service-Areas-Oct2013.pdf

SpaceTime

More places need 24h self-service petrol pumps. There seems to be a lot of card-payment diesel pumps with some kind of fuel card system. However, you can be very stuck for non commercial diesel or petrol.

ongarboy

An Bord Pleanala have granted Applegreen permission for an offline MSS near Birdhill on the M7. It will be an eastbound MSS only with access for wesbound motorists via a flyover. It will provide 4 branded restaurants, a convenience store and various other expected facilities including a drive-thru. I'm guessing Applegreen will partner with Burger King, Costa and Subway like they do in their other service stations.

Still no sign of Supermacs Monegall MSS up the road from it. I've more confidence in Applegreen as they've proven themselves to run the online MSSs very well on the M1 and M4.

http://www.pleanala.ie/casenum/242361.htm.

Applegreen have also appealed a Kilkenny County Council decision to refuse permission for an offline MSS on the M8 near Urlingford for a similar set up. Decison due in a few months.

Vanquished

ongarboy wrote: »

An Bord Pleanala have granted Applegreen permission for an offline MSS near Birdhill on the M7. It will be an eastbound MSS only with access for wesbound motorists via a flyover. It will provide 4 branded restaurants, a convenience store and various other expected facilities including a drive-thru. I'm guessing Applegreen will partner with Burger King, Costa and Subway like they do in their other service stations.

Still no sign of Supermacs Monegall MSS up the road from it. I've more confidence in Applegreen as they've proven themselves to run the online MSSs very well on the M1 and M4.

http://www.pleanala.ie/casenum/242361.htm.

A fairly comprehensive dismantling of the appellants case there!

It was very much the epitomy of a dubiously motivated, frivolous objection!

Hopefully we'll see some action on the ground shortly.

marmurr1916

ongarboy wrote: »

An Bord Pleanala have granted Applegreen permission for an offline MSS near Birdhill on the M7. It will be an eastbound MSS only with access for wesbound motorists via a flyover. It will provide 4 branded restaurants, a convenience store and various other expected facilities including a drive-thru. I'm guessing Applegreen will partner with Burger King, Costa and Subway like they do in their other service stations.

Still no sign of Supermacs Monegall MSS up the road from it. I've more confidence in Applegreen as they've proven themselves to run the online MSSs very well on the M1 and M4.

http://www.pleanala.ie/casenum/242361.htm.

Applegreen have also appealed a Kilkenny County Council decision to refuse permission for an offline MSS on the M8 near Urlingford for a similar set up. Decison due in a few months.

I hope that gets the go-ahead. It would be an ideal location for an MSS and it might spur the one at Cashel to improve its offer.

Conba

I saw lots of activity at the Moneygall site yesterday. I'm assuming this is the Supermacs one going ahead?

Conba

Passed by again earlier this week and the shell of the structure is nearing completion, or so it seems. Disappointingly small looking too.

betistuc

Would anyone be able to let me know where the nearest offline services are along the M3 ( preferably 24hr) My Wife always seems to get caught short on this road on her way to Dublin. She usually ends up going off the motorway and using the most hidden area she can find .
It's a disgrace that there aren't at least toilets on this and some of the other major roads in this country. Any reason for this reluctance to provide ?

veryangryman

betistuc wrote: »

Would anyone be able to let me know where the nearest offline services are along the M3 ( preferably 24hr) My Wife always seems to get caught short on this road on her way to Dublin. She usually ends up going off the motorway and using the most hidden area she can find .
It's a disgrace that there aren't at least toilets on this and some of the other major roads in this country. Any reason for this reluctance to provide ?

Not a huge amount of money to be made on these routes. Navan road and especially kells way too low numbers for motorway.

ongarboy

betistuc wrote: »

Would anyone be able to let me know where the nearest offline services are along the M3 ( preferably 24hr) My Wife always seems to get caught short on this road on her way to Dublin. She usually ends up going off the motorway and using the most hidden area she can find .
It's a disgrace that there aren't at least toilets on this and some of the other major roads in this country. Any reason for this reluctance to provide ?

It's only a 60km motorway from Clonee to Kells which you'd complete in 30 minutes travelling at 120kph speedlimit so unless you need to go very often, I'm surprised it's an issue and hence the reason why there wouldn't be much justification for online or offline dedicated services. Even still, there are plenty of turn offs at Clonee, Dunboyne, County Club, Dunshauglin, Navan where you can use garages. She might be better travelling the old N3 for easy access if it's a major issue for her. The gridlock is gone from those towns since the M3 opened so they are generally fine for travelling through.

SpaceTime

I honestly don't really understand why there are people out urinating on the side of the road though. I've never seen it anywhere else and really the length of motorway involved in most cases is not that big without services.

Take Cork-Dublin:

Official and unofficial easy access services at :

M8 - Exit 8 at Cashel - Unofficial, but very full service. (94km, 52min)
M7 - Exit 17 at Portlaoise Midway Food Court (73.6km 43 min)
M7 - Exit 14 at Mayfield - official services. (55km - 31 min)

You're at Citywest before long and there are also loads of towns on the motorway too.

The way people go on you'd think they were driving across the Trans-Siberian highway or the Nullabour Plain in Australia !

veryangryman

SpaceTime wrote: »

I honesty don't really understand why there are people out urinating on the side of the road though. I've never seen it anywhere else and really the length of motorway involved in most cases is not that big without services.

Take Cork-Dublin:

Official and unofficial easy access services at :

M8 - Exit 8 at Cashel - Unofficial, but very full service. (94km, 52min)
M7 - Exit 17 at Portlaoise Midway Food Court (73.6km 43 min)
M7 - Exit 14 at Mayfield - official services. (55km - 31 min)

You're at Citywest before long and there are also loads of towns on the motorway too.

Alot of Motorway drivers dont have a clue where they are is the problem. Theyre going Cork-Dublin or wherever and just need a wee. Its counter to the normal S1 roads where the petrol station is basically on the road itself. Those not used to travelling on Motorways (or various routes) dont seem to fathom this. As Ireland isnt that big on long distance commuting (like for instance, London commuters), the few that do the long distance are mainly doing it on once off/rare occasions, so dont always have the cop on.

^^And yes i know none of the above is an excuse. Dont stop on a Motorway is the rule of thumb i try to stick to.

SpaceTime

It really isn't an excuse and it's probably symptomatic of the roads being still 'new' (although at this stage, I'm not really so forgiving) but also of no enforcement of the non-stopping rule.

If you did that in the UK, you'd quite likely end up being met by a motorway patrol car and fined.

That kind of thing changes attitudes fast similar to the way people used to wear seat belts.

Vanquished

I noticed this evening that site works are now underway for the new applegreen service area just off junction 27 of the M7 near Birdhill.

betistuc

Thanks for the feedback. I am none the wiser and feeling a bit lectured

As I remarked in a different thread, I think all our Motorways should be retrofitted with the German style parking/picnic/public convenience areas found on all autobahns. Anyone who has ever traveled there will know what I mean. I would place them about every 30km and as is the case in Germany, no retailing should take place within them.
The Toilets are self cleaning so don't have to be manned and they also provide ample parking/Shower facilities for lorry drivers to overnight. I can't see them being that difficult or expensive to provide and would be ideal in the absence of full online services.
The only fly in the ointment would be if our Pavee Point brothers started to treat them as halting sites

Conba

I took a little detour off the M7 today to get a snap of the new MSA. Unfortunately I can't share it because I'm not a member long enough or something :-(

All the signage seems to be up. Surely this is very close to opening?

rameire

Attached are three pictures from the M9 northbound at the location of the new motorway service area and what has happened over the last 2 weeks.

vickers209

Theres a new offline apple-green site opened today at junction 14 on the m11 in wicklow.



From there facebook page

WE'RE NOW OPEN on M11, Exit 14, exciting day @goapplegreen 'low fuel prices,always' @the pumps, Shop, Subway, Costa and BK Drive Thru & Restaurant & our very own Bakewell Kitchen!! Pop in on ur travels this Bank Holier Weekend!!

Here is a thread with with details of the building from the start

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056997000

munchkin_utd

Conba wrote: »

I took a little detour off the M7 today to get a snap of the new MSA. Unfortunately I can't share it because I'm not a member long enough or something :-(

All the signage seems to be up. Surely this is very close to opening?

Indeed, opening today
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/supermacs-chief-hits-road-with-7m-obama-plaza-30316133.html

Conba

I called into the new Obama Plaza on the way home from Dublin this evening and.... wow... I know it's not the best weekend to judge by but if they even get a quarter of the crowd that was in there at 7pm-ish on a regular basis it's going to be a goldmine.

Not a bad layout even if it's a fairly tight interior relative to the M1 Applegreens, for instance. I often feel like Mayfield and Midway are too early to stop on the way home from Dublin so I can see myself calling into this one on a fairly regular basis.

marmurr1916

Amusing article on the new Obama Plaza, plus some thoughts on how MSAs have become destinations in their own right.

The closest motorway service station to where I live is a big, clean, warm spot that serves coffee in cups bigger than the average people carrier. It is called Applegreen, a neat doubling up on the mental associations of the fruit that bamboozles you into ignoring the fierce artificiality of the place.

It has a a play area. Climbing frame. Soft floor. Mini versions of those monstrous play centres you see in warehouses across the country. It has amusements that no one ever seems to put money into but that kids buzz around like wasps at a jam sandwich.

And, always, there are parents there. Drinking buckets of coffee, reading the paper or flicking their phones, occasionally looking up to make sure their child hasn’t wandered on to the motorway.

It’s a rainy-day destination. Kids love it. Parents get a few minutes’ peace against the white noise of cars haring past just a hundred metres away.

It sounds like the kind of thing people should add to the vision of an atomised society, the gutting of community. But it has a slide. Sometimes that’s all that matters.

I suspect there are others who go there, just for the drive, for something to do, an unspoken demographic who from early on subverted the idea that you passed through a service station instead of going to it. At Barack Obama Plaza, that notion has finally been brought out into the open. If they could just throw in a bouncy Obama for the kids to jump on, it would be a strange sort of perfection.

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/if-moneygall-can-throw-in-a-bouncy-barack-obama-we-re-there-1.1815282

loyatemu

vickers209 wrote: »

Theres a new offline apple-green site opened today at junction 14 on the m11 in wicklow.



From there facebook page



Here is a thread with with details of the building from the start

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056997000

They have the standard "Services" sign up on the M11 but it would be good if (as in France) they had a sign detailing what exactly is available at the site. i.e. "Services: Applegreen; Costa; Subway; BurgerKing" and also the price of petrol and diesel.

Alun

marmurr1916 wrote: »

Amusing article on the new Obama Plaza, plus some thoughts on how MSAs have become destinations in their own right.

When the first motorway services opened in England at the end of the 50's / early 60's, people used to go out there for dinner in the evenings, sitting at tables overlooking the bright new shiny motorway. Plus ca change ...

Poochie05

loyatemu wrote: »

They have the standard "Services" sign up on the M11 but it would be good if (as in France) they had a sign detailing what exactly is available at the site. i.e. "Services: Applegreen; Costa; Subway; BurgerKing" and also the price of petrol and diesel.

I agree. Having said that, you can see the sign with petrol prices from the m11 they've put it up so high!:D

Was away for a few days so didn't realize it was just opening day when I stopped by on Thursday. Place was packed with locals all taking advantage of their new Burger King.

Very handy as I was coming home from airport after working away for 3 days and was handy to stop get diesel and eat there rather than have to shop and make dinner when I reached home at around 7 pm and remember to get diesel at some point in the next few days.

There were 2 guys just standing watching the place like hawks, looked like head office types making sure everything was going smooth, and people being trained in at the tills.

Can see it doing well.

flazio

Visited the 'Obama' plaza, looks well, certainly smaller then Mayfield and the M4 online services but it does look well and is well laid out. I think it's the first of these to have a Drive Thru. Very American.
However the motorway exit itself is a bit of a problem

L1011

Cashel has a drivethru on both the main block and the McDonalds. Just as well as there's no parking!

loyatemu

the new Ashford services has a drive-thru also.

Conba

I have to say there's excellent parking at Obama Plaza. And nice outdoor seating. Very bright and airy inside too. I'll be skipping Mayfield a fair bit in future I think.

munchkin_utd

Conba wrote: »

I have to say there's excellent parking at Obama Plaza. And nice outdoor seating. Very bright and airy inside too. I'll be skipping Mayfield a fair bit in future I think.

i cant find any actual images of the Moneygall site, but heres some very well done computer renderings of what was proposed.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Proposed-Barack-Obama-Plaza/7007611



There doesnt seem to be a too ample provision of parking for cars especially considering that theres supposed to be 50+ working in the place who will be the first to block any available spaces, but the separation of HGV and cars is an example to other wannabe motorway services (err.... like Cashel).

Carawaystick

munchkin_utd wrote: »

but the separation of HGV and cars is an example to other wannabe motorway services (err.... like Cashel).

Where do hgv's get diesel? there doesn't seem to be a separate fueling area for them.