An updated version of this exciting and novel UK university league table which was first published back in 2022. It features universities which also happen to share a name with motorway service stations. Naturally the criteria are appropriately arbitrary and demonstrate very limited relationship to newspaper league tables and Which? rankings of motorway services.

The top placings

A brand new entry in the top 10 is the legendary Leicester Forest East (above) which, although it has faded somewhat over its nearly 60 year history, still carries its Italian autostrada stylings nicely. The University of Leicester is but a very long stone’s throw away.

Dropping one spot to 9th in the new league table is our first M4 offering, this one is for Swansea, our only Welsh university/services in the top 10. 

Speeding up to number 8 is lovely Reading with its twin service stations, also on the M4 (nearer the other end).

A non-mover at 7 it is another M1 university/services, this time Northampton is doing the honours.

Slipping a place down to 6th we find an ancient institution which has a slightly more modern service area. It is indeed Oxford and some would say the M40 might have been built for the university.

Dropping out of the top 3 we find another M40 offering, this time it is the relatively shiny and new Warwick services. Many will be unsurprised to learn that the 5th placed establishment is not actually that close to the university…

Sitting pretty at number 4 in the universities/motorway services ranking is picturesque Winchester on the M3.

Roaring up 3 slots into 3rd we have the only placing for services north of the border with the Stirling university/services match up on the M9.

Steady as she goes, our runner up is one of the biggest names in motorway services and universities, bang in the middle of the M6 it is, of course, Keele. 

And top of the heap, for the second time, in the all new universities/motorway services league table, overlooking all of the others is this fine building on the M6 which shares its name with none other than Lancaster University (it was originally called Forton services but changed its name in 1996).

In 1977, Egon Ronay rated the service area as “appalling.” The steak and kidney pie was “an insult to one’s taste buds” while the apple pie was “an absolute disgrace.” He said the whole site needed maintenance and a coat of paint, the toilets were smelly and dirty, and the food on display was “most unattractive.”

Things have certainly improved since the 70s, both in the university and the services. So extremely well done to Lancaster on the remarkable achievement of holding on to the number 1 spot. 

The top 10 table

Your 2024 Top 10 universities/motorway services league table in full:

1 Lancaster (Forton) M6 (1)

2 Keele M6 (2)

3 Stirling M9 (6)

4 Winchester M3 (4)

5 Warwick M40 (3)

6 Oxford M40 (5)

7 Northampton M1 (7)

8 Reading M4 (10)

9 Swansea M4 (8)

10 Leicester Forest East M1 (12)

Making up the numbers

Dropping out of the top 10 this time is the jewel of the A1(M), it’s Durham and its namesake services. And still lingering outside the premier league are these big service station names (including a couple on A roads which are still causing issues for the adjudication panel):

• Gloucester M5
• Cambridge A14
• Cardiff Gate M4
• Chester M56
• Derby South A50
• Exeter M5
• Stafford M6

And that’s before we get into missing ‘shire’ suffixes and what to do about London Gateway.

Until next time, congratulations to all of those university/services who made it into the top 10.