As the August Bank Holiday weekend approaches, i-media's ANPR and EPOS data from summer 2025 show exactly what advertisers stand to gain from the UK's biggest getaway weekend of the year. If you're a brand looking for nationwide awareness, it's a moment not to miss.
Last year's Bank Holiday weekend (21-25 August) drew 3.19 million vehicle visits across i-media's 132 motorway service area sites, with the weekend daily average running 30% above the August mean. Friday 22 August was the single busiest day across every metric measured, from total vehicles, to EVs, to family cars, with 9 of the 10 peak traffic days across the whole summer falling on a Friday.
Bank Holiday Monday itself outperformed everything else on the calendar. Moto network sales were up 26% on the term-time average, driven by 245,000 vehicles on site and spend per vehicle up 23%. Retail categories tell their own story of leisure-driven demand: ice cream sales nearly tripled (+89%), iced coffee rose 175%, and sports drinks climbed 128% before demand reverted straight back to baseline the next day.
Bank Holiday Monday is a single-day illustration of a trend that runs through the whole summer. Across the summer holidays as a whole, average daily sales were up 14% on term time, with toys up 59% (the clearest signal of family travel in the data) and non-fizzy soft drinks were up 30%.
Audience composition shifts too. Car share of traffic peaked at 70% in Bank Holiday week, and on Bank Holiday Monday specifically hit 79.7% (compared with 60.3% on a typical term-time Monday), as leisure travel displaces weekday commuter traffic. Family vehicles added around 15,500 extra journeys a day during the holidays, while EV volumes rose 7.6%.
Some sites capture this seasonal surge better than others. Lymm saw a 96% Bank Holiday Monday spend-per-vehicle spike, reflecting concentrated M6 getaway traffic, while Kinross benefits from a sustained 'getaway effect' driving summer spend 19% above its baseline.
Taken together, the picture is consistent: summer, and the August Bank Holiday above all, doesn't just bring more vehicles to Britain's motorway service areas, it brings a different audience altogether. Family cars replace commuter vehicles and spend per visit climbs in step with the shift towards leisure travel.
For brands looking to reach millions of leisure travellers at the moment they're most ready to spend, this weekend is the single highest-value window motorway service areas offer all year.
