01-02-2026 - Thirsk - MFG Charging Station
54.22876, -1.329207
Thirsk. THIiiir-SKE! The name of the town - nay - the word itself is so delightful to speak. Really hit that 's' and 'k' in there! Love it! Unfortunately, that is where the enjoyment on this particular stop ends. It was the middle of the evening and we needed to stop, get a nice meal and charge the car. Thirsk was not our first choice - we'd planned on getting a bit further on, but the day had been cold and our range had dropped. That's not to say that Thirsk is a terrible place - far from it! When I heard what it had to offer I was excited! However, it was not to be.
Initially, we thought we'd stop at one of the pod points in town, but the one we found was out of action. Nevertheless, we thought we'd park in the centre of town and get some pub-grub and worry about the charging later. Thirsk is an old market town; its town centre is quite lovely. Cobbles, old pubs and the like. Sadly, none of the pubs are serving food at this hour. I think the Wetherspoons might have been but it didn't look too inviting. The fancy hotel pub had lights on, but no-one was around in the dining area. All a bit of a let-down really. Shame. We picked up some uninspiring sandwiches from the local co-op and headed out to the fast chargers at the MFG Charging Station on the outskirts of town.
As it's winter-time, it's dark and cold. There are the signs of a larger snow storm somewhere nearby, as chunks of dirty snow are lying around the vacant charging spots. The bright lights of Greggs and Costa can be seen, reflected in all the puddles. It's your classic out-of-town modern stop-off. Petrol station, fast food, off-licence and zero greenery. The shop is a Budgens though - a rather more upmarket chain I'd always thought. The idea being is you just watch telly inside your car while it charges, no doubt slurping down some hideous coffee, or in my case, a McDonald's veggie burger.
That's right! For the first time in about 20 years I decided I wander into a McDonalds and see what had changed. Aside from the electronic ordering screens and decor-colour change, it's mostly the same. It's somewhat incredible really, that this brand has stayed the same for so long, and by 'the same' I mean, mostly disappointing. The basic burgers are still quite cheap. The Vegetarian Deluxe I had was fine but bland. The fries are expensive and pretty awful. All in all, I feel ripped off and slightly less healthy. Good to know I've not been missing out all these years. I'm not sure McDonalds or the folks who go there know that Five Guys exists. I'm told that Burger King does a better job. I've even heard good things about Tim Horton's (I had coffee in the one in Dundee and it wasn't awful), so I wonder what keeps Macky Dees going? The basic burgers are super cheap I guess. Whatever it is, it's not for me. Before any-one says anything, the Greggs was closed.
Nostalgia tour over, let's talk about the chargers. There is a bank of around 8 chargers. The ones we used had the trinity of CCS, Type 2 and CHAdeMO and were 150kW, so pretty beefy. They accepted contactless payments thankfully. The screens are quite large too. The full details can be found on Zapmap. Suffice it to say they were easy to use, quick and well-lit.
These sorts of sites are all over the place (we'll see more on this particular trip). They are almost identikit. If the goal is a quick stop for a charge, toilet and some fizzy pop then this will absolutely work. It's nothing special. There are no real walk options (so if you have a dog with you it might be tricky). I suppose I shouldn't complain too much - after-all it was the best place to charge around here. I suppose one must compare these charging stops to petrol stations of yore; they weren't particularly fun to be around for long either.