Motorway services are a necessary inconvenience. Few of us truly relish them, but those lengthy drives to visit family at Christmas, for instance, would be challenging without the chance to pause for a sandwich and a cuppa halfway through.
Travel podcaster David Burnip explored some of the most well-known pit stops across the country for his Wandering Turnip YouTube channel. On the southern leg of his journey, he discovered one that left him feeling as if he was "in a zombie movie".
Bridgwater Services on the M5 in Somerset provides the usual amenities you'd find in services scattered along many of the nation's key traffic routes.
There's a Burger King and a Costa, naturally, but for some reason it's sparked some rather strong reactions.
TripAdvisor reviews for the site are damning, with some labelling it as the "absolutely worst services". In fact, it has garnered just 2.5 stars out of 5 from a total of 348 reviews – with 126 of those (the largest proportion) awarding it the lowest rating of one single star.
David expressed he was "quite glad" to see that the Costa outlet within the services was shut, having encountered far too many on his journey. However, his joy was fleeting.
"There's an open Costa as well," he bemoaned.
He added: "The Costa / Burger King double act. It's too much. Is that what Britain's taste has been reduced to? Fatty burgers and bad coffee."
While there was once a West Cornwall Pasty Company kiosk just outside the main entrance, it has since been shut down.
The services can be incredibly busy during the summer months, but when David visited, it was practically deserted. "This place is a bit of a ghost town," he commented.
"I can't imagine people spend too long here at all."
Despite Bridgwater Services' massive car park, there's not much on offer inside. David continued: "This place is tiny. There really isn't much there."
Upon entering the services' vast car park, he couldn't spot a single car and remarked, "I felt like I was in a zombie movie". He added: "Why would you build something this big for such a tiny service station."
He described the entire site as somewhat of a wasteland, stating: "Devoid of people, devoid of life. It seems devoid of staff. ...I don't know where they are."
He noted that, like many motorway services, Bridgwater has an entirely blank advertising hoarding that's been left unused.
In his final analysis, David gave the services, ranked as 'one of the worst service stations" in the country, a harsh score: "What am I rating this one out of 10?" He said: "You're probably going to be a two. This one's got a two."
