Minster services
A299 at Minster Roundabout
(also accessible to traffic on the B2190)
Signposted from the road.
CT12 4AY
map and directions
Single site located at a junction.
A newer development close to Kent International Airport, as the A299 nears Ramsgate.
Facilities
Catering: Costa Drive Thru, McDonald's Drive Thru, Minster Food Station, Smugglers Retreat Table Table Amenities: Premier Inn Outdoor Space: No grass space but the site is connected to local walking routes; Children's Play Area (at McDonald's) Charging Points: GeniePoint 50kW CCS, 50kW CHAdeMO & 43kW Type 2 Forecourt: ASDA Express, Costa Express, Rollover, Car Wash, Jet Wash, Free Cash Machine
Parking Prices
Short stay customer parking is available for cars at all facilities. No HGV parking is available.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
Tothill Street
Minster
Ramsgate
Kent
CT12 4AY
Trivia and History
It is unusual to find a fully signed, official service area on a road that has never been a trunk road, but the A299 offers two of them. Kent County Council seem to be very keen to signpost service areas, perhaps because they spend a lot of time dealing with HGV parking issues, although this particular service area doesn't offer HGV parking.
Planning
The service area was first proposed in 1992, with Margram planning to build a filling station, restaurant, hotel and parking for all vehicles in the south-east corner of the Minster roundabout, on the site of the former Mount Pleasant Farm. These plans were approved in 1996 but never built.
A second set of plans from Margram came ten years later in 2003, which proposed a filling station and drive-thru restaurant in one combined building, with 38 car parking spaces and 26 HGV parking spaces. More land was available for development to the south and east of the site. This was approved in 2005 but amended in the same year with the drive-thru restaurant removed from the sales building.
Opening and Additions
The first facility eventually opened in 2005 as a Margram-operated Somerfield Essentials filling station, known as 'Minster service area', with car and jet washes and 10 HGV parking spaces. It was known locally as Mount Pleasant lorry park.
With the filling station now open, interest in the surrounding land soon increased, with Whitbread proposing a Premier Inn hotel and restaurant in 2008, along with a McDonald's Drive Thru restaurant in 2011.
Following the merger of Somerfield with The Co-operative Group in late 2009, the site was rebranded 'The Co-operative', with the store becoming a Co-op Food store. The Co-operative Group then adopted Texaco branded fuel in 2011, but rebranded the whole petrol station in blue branding as Co-op Petrol in 2016.
By 2012, both the McDonald's Drive Thru and Premier Inn hotel had opened, alongside the Smugglers Retreat branch of Table Table. The lorry park had been closed off by this point. The land was later put up to let.
Recent Changes
There have been several proposals to re-utilise the lorry park, with one from 2018 planning to turn the land into a container storage yard and hand car wash, which was refused. Minster Food Station began trading from a mobile catering unit and received planning permission to build two units and car parking in the former HGV parking area in May 2021. Amended plans were later approved in September 2023 to split the main building into three units, as well as the addition of a tyre centre in a separate building and four EV charging bays in the new car park. There was also a plan in mid-2022 to use the land for a two-storey gymnasium and outdoor minigolf centre, but these plans were later withdrawn.
A Costa Drive Thru opened on land to the east of the Premier Inn car park on 18 June 2021. Two electric vehicle charging points were also installed in the new Costa car park but are yet to go live. Instead, GeniePoint added a charger to the Premier Inn car park in early 2024.
The forecourt rebranded to Asda Express on 20 October 2023 following Asda's acquisition of Co-op petrol stations.
Work commenced on the new units on the former lorry park in late 2023, with Oakwood Commercial leasing the units out. The site has since been referred to as Minster Services Retail Park, with new tenants set to be trading from the site from Summer 2024.
Alternatives
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| Thanet Way and Lychgate (19 miles) | Services on the A299 | Richborough (A256, 4 miles) |