Motorway Services Online

A service station promoting its relationship with Burger King, Greggs, Subway and Sainsbury's, all of which have stores on High Streets and town centres.

The term High Street Brand became widely used in the 1990s, to referring to shops and restaurants which people might recognise from town and shopping centres.

At the time, places like service stations, railway stations and airports created their own names for their shops and restaurants. The adoption of franchising meant visitors to these places were starting to see shops and restaurants they recognised from town centres, which was a significant change, especially as the existing, own-brand chains had a very poor reputation.

Rather than explain the exact licensing agreement which had allowed this to happen, the new arrivals were instead introduced as "High Street Brands", with 'High Street' being an example of a street name most people would associate with shopping. As shops on a real High Street tend to be expensive to rent, they were associated with high quality, and therefore the title 'High Street Brand' implied a better experience.

The business media were already using the term "the High Street" to refer to the state of town centres. Some service stations would promote 'High Street Prices' or "quality from the High Street"; a promise that they would recreate the everyday shopping experience.

The introduction of High Street Brands to motorways was a natural evolution, as it was only during the latter half of the 20th century that many High Street Brands began to expand to become large chains, so it would take some time before the most successful ones jumped to unusual setups like motorways. When this happened, some service areas literally tried to recreate the High Street, having a corridor lined with vintage-style lampposts and familiar names.

By the 2020s, the use of so-called 'High Street Brands' has become so widespread that people don't associate them with High Streets any more. Many quick service restaurants, especially the American brands, only focus on out-of-town locations such as retail parks. Whether this really counts as a 'High Street Brand' is debatable, but it doesn't really matter, as if it continues that fewer people visit their local High Street, then the term will lose all relevance.

An example of this turn of events is WHSmith: service stations first started working with them in 2006 because people recognised and trusted them from town centres, but the collapse of town centre retailing meant they sold all their town centre stores in 2025, turning it pretty much into a service station-only brand. Arguably it is still a known name, but it's no longer known from the High Streets.

There is at least one service area which is literally on a 'High Street', but don't let that confuse you: that one is still nothing like a town centre, even if it does now have some familiar names inside.