Elly Swanson
Top Poster
VIP Member
Just rang to book a table at our first Britstops of the year and they said, ”just pop in with your book to say hi when you arrive”.Some places do ask to see the book and the book now has a one-use code to access the new app, which is great. It’s £30 inc postage. We’ve bought the book the last 6 years and every year had great value for the money. Although you have to buy the book to access the app it will be good to have the book in the van for when we’re out in the sticks and can’t get internet access. There’s a handy Britstops user group on Facebook where people leave reviews based on the books code numbers, so you can get an idea what a place is like.
You can stay at a Britstops with no obligation to buy or purchase goods/services. We usually do but it’s not always appropriate (like a stove showroom we’ve stayed at) or convenient (like the pub we couldn’t get to before they closed due to bad traffic and weather). A lot of the pubs let non-britstoppers stay on the condition that they eat in the pub, but there are plenty of other places that only let Britstoppers stay. The book does include some “airres“ that are car parks where you pay, but the costs are clearly listed.
During COVID it was advisable to phone ahead but in the new book many are going back to not requiring that, so you can take your chance and just rock up. You do have to be flexible though as even if you’ve phoned, you’ve not booked a “pitch“ so you might need a plan B. We’ve found though that if a place is busy during business hours, after closing time you can just move in to the car park to get your head down In a safe place.
You have to remember that you’re not camping so no chairs, tables or awnings out, no external cooking or other camping activities, but you can pop your top up. Not many have overnight loos, so make sure you have one onboard.
Some places are just convenient stopovers, but plenty are destinations in their own right either for the food, goods, services or location.
As a scheme it’s well run and the organisers sort out issues pretty Swiftly.
We’ve just got our new book so I’m already planning our pre-festival stopovers and thinking of doing a bit of a Britstops tour. Then they’ll be the off-spec sleepovers in the Peak District at the end of the week if we want to get out in the fresh air and don’t fancy travelling too far, cooking dinner, or having to drive home straight after.
I did wonder when we first started if it was all going to be a bit clicky, with the book being like a funny handshake and everybody wanting to be your bessie mate, but that’s not been the case. For us it’s been great and we’ve been to places where we wouldn’t previously have thought of.