The shop at Welcome Break's Keele services was voted tops by our mystery shopper who was charged with the task of checking out the facilities along the M6. The mission was simple: to see how easy it was to buy a quick snack meal on a Saturday evening on the way home from watching Manchester United take on Blackburn at Old Trafford. Our shopper praised the Welcome Break store for being clean, well merchandised and well laid out. It was also the cheapest of the three shops visited ­ by far. However, the Keele store's best asset was the assistant who smiled as she greeted our shopper, offered a bag and asked if a receipt was required. This level of service was distinctly lacking in the stores operated by Moto and Roadchef. Our shopper thought the latter store was badly in need of a revamp, being cramped and poorly laid out. Availability of the standard bacon, lettuce and tomato sarnie was good in all stores. They also had two of the other items on our list, with Vittel being particularly well stocked in their chillers. However, none of them sold fruit and none had coffee machines for travellers in need of a quick fix of caffeine. Our shopper found it a real pain having to queue separately in the cafe for a hot drink. Despite the lack of coffee our shopper was impressed by the fact it took an average of just six minutes to choose and pay for his goods. {{GROCER 33 }}

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