Non-Official, Offline Motorway Services in Ireland

Amtmann

Last one..

L1011

Topaz seem to be breaking away from their Statoil-constrained architectural (Assuming that is a Topaz Owned&Operated), their other recent larger stations have not only been, well, smaller (Kill and Dublin Port come to mind), they've effectively been standard Statoil O&O designs.

Anyone bothered to pull up the planning file? As far as I know "Ard Services Ltd" is Topaz's shell firm for operating its O&O stations.

L1011

I'm bored, its O&O, the parent firm applied for the planning.

http://www.southtippcoco.ie/eplan41/FileRefDetails.aspx?file_number=FS7209&LASiteID=0

Its a far better design, architecturally, than their earlier ones.

jkwasere

There's a Topaz-McDonald's setup about three minutes off J22 M7. Just follow the N62 towards Roscrea, and it's at the first roundabout.

I hear there will be new services at Birdhill and Moneygall?:

http://www.irishexaminer.ie/ireland/100-castleisland-jobs-under-threat-151710.html

(read the whole article)

munchkin_utd

MYOB wrote: »

Indo had renders of the Moneygall one today, its going to be BIG by the looks of things, SuperStop MSA sized.

the paper has no image online but the architects do!



heres a BIG version of that image too:
http://www.quinnarchitects.ie/commercial/sg_moneygall_content/gallery/bigbox/Aerial_-_FINAL_1600x1111.jpg

from http://www.quinnarchitects.ie/commercial/moneygall.php

munchkin_utd

travelled the length of the M3 and M4 over the weekend.

Noticed that the small brown signs to direct you to the nearest offline petrol station (& fishing & god knows what other stuff the area has) are now supersized, at least the petrol symbol is.

In June 2005 the NRA said they would be errecting "appropriate signage to alert motorists" to offline services.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0615/roads.html

are these signs finally this signage promised 6 years ago, and do the signs continue to the pertrol station, or is it still the case that once off line you are dumped onto the regional road network and left COMPLETELY clueless as to where the afore promised refuelling stops actually might be found ?

L1011

Generally you're dropped and left to fend for yourself. Although they are *generally* put up either where the station has already been pimping itself for ages or is visible from the junction.

The architechts render has it smaller than the one in the Indo!

munchkin_utd

MYOB wrote: »

Generally you're dropped and left to fend for yourself. Although they are *generally* put up either where the station has already been pimping itself for ages or is visible from the junction.

The architechts render has it smaller than the one in the Indo!

maybe the indo had the full site plans included.
McDonagh of supermacs was on rte radio at the weekend and he mentioned that the food plaza/ pumps/ mini market is only the first phase.

They have also plans for a meetings/ business centre and all going well eventually a hotel on the site, but all that depending on how the first phase goes.

He also said that he (aka supermacs) has other full service rest areas planned for the other major inter urbans. Has anyone more detail on what they have in the pipeline?

DecQ

Looking at the image and comparing it to the on/off ramps at Moneygall as it stands, is McDonagh going to buy the extra land needed to configure the motorway entrance /exit as in the image or is it up to the council to do it. There's a fair bit of extra acreage taken up by this.

marmurr1916

munchkin_utd wrote: »

maybe the indo had the full site plans included.
McDonagh of supermacs was on rte radio at the weekend and he mentioned that the food plaza/ pumps/ mini market is only the first phase.

They have also plans for a meetings/ business centre and all going well eventually a hotel on the site, but all that depending on how the first phase goes.

He also said that he (aka supermacs) has other full service rest areas planned for the other major inter urbans. Has anyone more detail on what they have in the pipeline?

Nope. Hopefully Supermacs will go ahead and build a decent network so that we get MSAs roughly every 40 to 50km.

L1011

topaz opens may 18th according to banners

Amtmann

The McDonalds/Topaz service area off M8 J8 is doing very well so far. They should have built it bigger though. It's very congested and parking is dire.

veryangryman

Do my eyes deceive me or is there a station right by the Monasterevin westbound slips?

So D-L and D-C traffic now have Rathcoole, Monasterevin and Portlaoise. Limerick fans will have Roscrea and Moneygall. One more good station (perhaps online) between Port and Cork should be enough i think

L1011

There is, with quite probably illegally placed signage on the mainline...

L1011

^^ opens on Friday and is a Texaco w/Supermacs apparently.

veryangryman

MYOB wrote: »

^^ opens on Friday and is a Texaco w/Supermacs apparently.

Least the quality of the food is increasing. Supermacs is quite muck but beats McDs and BK anyday for a quick fillup of the arteries...

G_R

Service station and Supermacs Restaurant. Open Friday 17th June.

Coming from Dublin:
Take exit 14, go immediately left on the roundabout and the station is on the immediate left.

Coming from Cork/Limerick direction:
Again, exit 14, go around the roundabout, third exit. Cross the bridge, straight through the roundabout, second exit. Service Station on the immediate left.

Haven't been in yet as it isn't open as of the time of posting, so not too sure on the exact specifics, so I'll update when I get to go in to it.

However, I think:

14 Petrol/Diesel Pumps
4 Lorry fueling pumps
4 e-chargers (with room for a number more when this kind of car takes off)
Loads of Parking
Shop with Deli and seating
Supermacs restaurant.

There is 2 directional signs Southbound, and I only saw I Northbound (but I'm guessing they will be adding a second)

munchkin_utd

A wee bit more in the monastereven station

The franchises include Supermacs (open from 11am to 11pm), Insomnia and Spar Express. The Junction 14 Mayfield Food Service Counter opens from 6am-9pm and will provide the option of a traditional deli or a carvery service.

At a cost of E7 million, the new station has a 24-hour Texaco fuel stop, 24-hour toilets with shower facilities, ATM service, charging points for electric cars, car wash facility, 170 car parking spaces, 25 truck spaces and five bus parking spaces.

http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/business/75_jobs_boost_1_2772526

A lot more parking than the one at Cashel then so

Has anyone had the pleasure of visiting in person? Any photos?

G_R

munchkin_utd wrote: »

A wee bit more in the monastereven station


http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/business/75_jobs_boost_1_2772526

A lot more parking than the one at Cashel then so

Has anyone had the pleasure of visiting in person? Any photos?

I'll be taking a spin down that direction next week. If no one has posted pictures by then I'll snap a few and throw em up.

Colm R

Was there last Friday on opening day.

It was busy enough, and there were a few teething problems with cash registers. This itself would not put me off.


Good points.

Loads of parking.
There is going to be a play ground which will be covered.
Two options for food - Spar Deli and Supermacs and a coffee shop.

Bad Points

It would be nice if there was a separate building to take payments for fuel. Going in to Spar is awkward if its busy. This will cause delays with queues at the pumps. I would point out that if people are going to get food, they will need to go out and move the car anyway. So I'd doubt they would loose customers.

For the size of the car parks, the indoor area is pretty small. You may find when its busy that you will get your food, but will need to return to your car to eat it.

JupiterKid

Is the Supermacs a drive-thru outlet? At least it's something for the M7 for now.

Colm R

JupiterKid wrote: »

Is the Supermacs a drive-thru outlet? At least it's something for the M7 for now.

no. Its inside as part of a foodcourt.

veryangryman

Very good facility. Stopped by last week on route back from Cork.

Easy getting in/out, supermacs was delish and the facilities (toilets included) kept very clean. I know its new but a promising start

Limerick Rebel

This is a fantastic addition to the M7. I heard one of the owners on the radio last week and I believe that it was all built with private money. They spent somewhere in the region of €7 million on it. Fair play to them and I wish them every success with it.
I used it 3 times this week. I love the fact that they offer free WI-FI and the food and coffee are decent too.

jkwasere

Was there on Thursday. It's a good addition to the M7. Free wi-fi was handy, although it was quite small inside. I was surpurised to see NRA erected brown signs saying 'Services' .

niloc1951

Did anyone notice which of the three different parking areas car-caravan outfits and motor caravans are directed to :rolleyes:

L1011

jkwasere wrote: »

Was there on Thursday. It's a good addition to the M7. Free wi-fi was handy, although it was quite small inside. I was surpurised to see NRA erected brown signs saying 'Services' .

I'm not convinced they're NRA erected at all.

G_R

Was there today on my way home, I got two pics of it, so I'll throw em up as promised:

This is just looking across the forecourt. The Pumps closest to you in the picture all have chip and pin at the pump, so you don't even have to go inside if you don't want to.

This one is taken from the outside seating area, you can see the smoking area, and just to the side of that there is a kids play area, still under construction, but i'm sure it'll be good once it opens.


Inside there isn't much seating room, maybe enough for 30 people max, but there is loads of room outside, both in the smoking area and the outside seating area.

They also have a pretty cool air-pump for your tyres. Took me a while to figure out but i got it eventually.:cool:

Edit:
Dear God those pics are massive. If a mod knows how to resize em, could you edit them please. Of not delete em, the links are below. Thanks!

Amtmann

I'm going to have to stop going to that 24-hr Amber off M8 junction 14. It's like walking into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory or some marvellous bakery. The amount of specialist chocolate, muffins, rocky roads, cream buns, meringues, cakes, and caramel slices in it is unreal, all beautifully merchandised. And the deli is superb. It takes great single-mindedness to walk to the counter and pay for my petrol only.

Amtmann

Stopped off at M7 J14 Mayfield yesterday and today. Loved it, though I would echo ColmR's point above about the cash desks.

It is perfectly positioned with lots of space - superior to the Topaz/McDonalds effort on the M8 in terms of site layout and appearance.