Norton Canes Services
Opened: 2004 Original owner: RoadChef Trivia: The newest Motorway Service station (!) Is a one site services, eg. traffic heading in both directions uses the same building, and it would be possible to do a u-turn and head back the other way if you wanted. You’ll still pay a toll though! Has a conference centre, and a fantastic water feature outside. Offers table service after 6pm, almost a return to the early days of Service areas when Waitress service was the norm. Dining takes place in a large open plan and airy seating area, after you have chosen what you wish to eat. The On Route Restaurant will cook your food in front of you. Costa was having difficulty...
Full ReviewForton Services
Opened: 1965 Original owner: Toprank Current Owner: Moto Location: M6 J32/33 Then: Opened as Forton, now known as Lancaster (Forton) Trivia: Very distinctive from the road- features a round tower that resembles a Air Traffic Control Tower, which originally was a restaurant, currently in use as offices. The tower is called The Pennine Tower. An employee of Forton said that the Pennine Tower closed after complaints that it looked like an UFO when lit up at night and was distracting- (Sounds like an urban myth, but its a great tale, It is more likely that the services became too busy to handle the number of visitors- can anyone shed any light on this). Also we are curious to know...
Full ReviewKnutsford Services
Opened: 1963 Original owner: Toprank Current Owner: Moto Then: Trivia: New 54 Bed Travelodge built in 2001 (info) Knutsford (town) has its own web site Planning applications were applied for a new site at junction 22 about 14 miles north. Everyone acknowledged that the traffic levels (around 100,000 vehicles per day) was enough to justify further facilities, particularly given the long distance nature of much of that traffic and that the nearest existing services- Knutsford and Charnock Richard – were rather undersized and had no room to expand. However, the Secretary of state threw out the proposals, leaving plans in disarray A UFO sighting near Knutsford services is described in detail on this web site- is it a UFO, or something else? The Northbound...
Full ReviewLymm Services
Opened: 1994 Current Owner: Poplar 2000 Location: Junction 20 Then: Trivia: Lymm is a modern, purpose-built truck stop with a capacity for 400 trucks, in Lymm, Cheshire. A popular stop for trucks on the M6, but we think ordinary traffic can now stop there too. One of two Truck stops along the M6- the other is at J38 Big Vern writes: “Popular Truckstop existed on the A50 just of M56 junction 20 and M56 junction 9 for many years. In the 1980’s Pochin (www.pochins.plc.uk) a Cheshire construction company brought the truckstop and moved it across the road to a triangle of land between the M6, M56 and A50. At the same time the M6 was extended to four lanes...
Full ReviewKillington Lake Services
Opened: 1972 Original owner: BP Current Owner: BP (Services by Roadchef) Location: M6 Southbound J 35/36 Trivia: One of the few sites where the Head Lease is owned by a petrol company. The services are by arrangement with Roadchef Serves the Southbound lane only. Northbound is served by Burton In Kendal, about 7 miles south of this site. One of the Original RoadChef sites. Located on the banks of Killington Lake- Fishermen can fish in the lake, but not sure if you can fish directly from the service area. More information on this site from the Roadchef web site. Review: The picture does not do the place justice. From the front it appears like nothing much, but out the back, the cafeteria...
Full ReviewKeele Services
Opened: 1963 Original owner: Forte Current Owner: Welcome Break Trivia: One of the few MSA’s to have a bridge restaurant. BT Cellnet held a competition in 1999 for art students to come up with a new design for a mobile phone mast. A winning design was contructed as a concept example and is located at Keele Services (see pictures at manuafacturers website) The Tidy Britain Group held an experiemental project here in 1998. Don’t know what that involved, but it was compared against a similar project on the A1 at Grantham. Popular with local students (from Keele University) for whom it is the only place open locally in the small hours Originally staffed rather like an aircraft, with hostesess...
Full Review