Apologies if this has been discussed before, I did search...

In the last few weeks the signs for Corley Services have somewhat changed, to a format I've never seen before...



Is this legit, or just someone's idea of how it should be done?

It reminds me of continental practice.

This is the new style MSA signage. Sandbach has them as well.

Looks much cleaner to me. Before it was a big mess with the various logos on top.

And I'm guessing that that means that the services are again owned by "Welcome Break" and not "Welcome Break BK KFC Starbucks"?

That was the problem with trying to stretch the limits of the previous rules, putting various logos into the operator name space at the top ended up looking a mess.
The new style provides drivers with more useful information to let them make an informed choice of where to stop. Having the fuel brand on the sign is particularly useful to anyone using a fuel card (which must be a large proportion of people buying fuel at MSAs).

That's excellent. Very clear and precise. Right degree of information and advertising.

I must have driven right past that on Saturday and never even noticed! It's well past time this happened though.

The one at Sandbach has been up since the Mcdonalds opened, only S/B though yet. Definately better signage though.

I like it, reminds me of services signs in Florida.

I will miss the old drawings of a cup, knife/spoon, and petrol pump though!

Part of me bemoans the fact that commercialism has won through and the thought that company logos are now more significant and recognised than the old generic symbols. But then again, this is an inevitable evolution and the actual sign design is a good one.

However, I would like to see a return to a more straightforward design when it comes to advance signing for services. Something along the lines of "Services 12 miles and 32 miles" instead of the cluttered versions with all the company names on.

I don't think so - I reckon this will be kept for the listing signs.
I think it's fairly obvious that company logos are of more use than the standard fork and spoon symbol, as even if you don't recognise any of them, the old symbol didn't tell you very much anyway.

The symbols which we will miss are hotel (although this is partly covered by the new sign), picnic tables, electric vehicle charging points and LPG.

Presumably they'll still be used for all service areas not on motorways, though?

However the way the facilities have gone, especially late at night, there's sometimes nothing available that you would need cutlery to eat .... !

They're also doing something to the car park at Corley. I hope they don't make a mess of it like Michael Wood where the whole thing is now a speed hump riddled maze of narrow gaps

I seem to recall the American signs having separate headings "food" "lodgings" and "gas" though these signs are there more to indicate what is available within reasonable distance of an exit than for what we'd consider the traditional MSA which don't exist as much in the USA and usually only on toll roads.

While I actually like the idea of knowing what brands I'll have to chose from at my next stop we do run the risk of putting so much information on a sign that they become impossible to interpret when you're only a short distance from the exit.

I noticed the new Corley sign recently. On one level it's a nice bit of design, attractive and well laid out. However when you're doing 70 on a busy motorway, trying to take in seven different brand logos and figure out which ones are relevant to you isn't actually that easy. For example, looking at the photo, I can make out "Welcome Break" (which means nothing more than just a generic MSA brand as far as I'm concerned), Shell (cheap petrol in Luton, not sure about MSA prices), KFC (yuck), Burger King (nice chips). The others I can't make out - the font is too small to be readily legible.

The only thing I really want to know on an MSA sign is the price of the fuel. The rest is usually pretty much of a muchness in my experience.

Then they would all say £LOTS!

I also like the look of the new signs. They are a lot less cluttered than the old ones. I would, however prefer if it had the generic hotel, parking, etc. symbols as well but that's just me.

Surely most people will recognise the symbols of each company. The only one I can't make out is the top middle. The green one next to it is Waitrose. The others should all be instantly recognisable.