Old building The service was constructed by Higgs and Hill Ltd as part of the
M4 motorway contract between Aust and
Almondsbury. The original services building was built near the edge of the cliff, allowing visitors to see the
Severn Bridge and the
Severn Estuary. The services went into operation the day after the bridge and motorway were opened on 8 September 1966, with
Elizabeth II visiting. The services were originally run by Top Rank Motorport, a subsidiary of
The Rank Organisation. The site was 25 acres and had a 350 seat restaurant, a self service cafeteria for 450 people, a transport cafe and parking for 750 cars and lorries. A 1978 government report stated that this service station had the largest public cafeteria in the
United Kingdom. When the road was diverted over the
Second Severn Crossing it was expected that these services would close. The original building was closed and sold, and operations moved to an adjacent site.
New building It has been owned by
Moto Hospitality since the company was founded in 2001, making it one of the first motorway services to be operated by Moto.
Burger King is the only surviving brand that has been operating there since 2001. Despite Moto's take over, the mini
amusement arcade in the services, Gscape, remained there from the days when Granada owned the service station despite being Granada branded, as Granada created the 'Gscape' arcades to appear exclusively within their services, with the "G" in the logo being the same G that Granada had in their logo. The 'Gscape' branding was removed in the 2010s. A sign located beside the A403 road some distance before approaching the roundabout that serves the service station has generated some interest. The sign, depicting a
pictograph symbol of a bed, is supposed to identify that the service station has a hotel, although the sign appears some distance outside the service station and gives no direction to get there. It was erected when Granada bought the service station, and the same sign is normally seen in other service stations once owned by Granada, inside the service station's entrance. The 2019 Motorway Services User Survey found that Severn View had the lowest level of customer satisfaction of motorway services in the UK. ==Incidents==