M40 Services
Where can you stop on the M40? There are four service areas on the 89-mile motorway. Three are at junctions, so they serve both directions from one site; the fourth, Warwick, has separate sites on each side of the road.
| Services | Where | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| Beaconsfield | Junction 2 | Extra |
| Oxford | Junction 8A | Welcome Break |
| Cherwell Valley | Junction 10 | Moto |
| Warwick | Between Junctions 12 and 13 | Welcome Break |
Planning a stop
The spacing is uneven. Beaconsfield is only a few miles from the M25. Oxford services is the next stop, beyond the Chilterns. From there Cherwell Valley and Warwick follow, and beyond Warwick there is no further service area on the M40 before it joins the M42.
Heading north from London, Beaconsfield is the first chance to stop and Warwick is the last. Heading south, Warwick southbound is the first.
Hotels on the M40
Every M40 service area has a hotel on site: an Ibis Budget at Beaconsfield, a Ramada at Oxford, a Travelodge at Cherwell Valley and a Days Inn at Warwick’s northbound site. Beaconsfield also has a Shell filling station with 36 pumps, described when it opened as the largest in the country.
Services at junctions
Because Beaconsfield, Oxford and Cherwell Valley are reached from a junction, you leave the motorway to use them and rejoin afterwards. If the slip road at one of those junctions is closed, the services may be harder to reach — the roadworks and closures tonight pages list slip-road closures.
How the services came about
The M40 went more than three years after its completion in 1991 without a service area. Cherwell Valley opened first, in spring 1994. Warwick followed in early 1996, Oxford in the summer of 1998 and Beaconsfield on 17 March 2009.
Each service area in detail
- Beaconsfield services — at Junction 2, near the M25.
- Oxford services — at Junction 8A, east of Oxford.
- Cherwell Valley services — at Junction 10, near Bicester.
- Warwick services — separate northbound and southbound sites.