| Opened: 1968 Original owner: Granada Current Owner: Moto |
Then:
In 1938, Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister, after returning from meeting Adolf Hitler, made a famous speech from Heston Aerodrome, part of which was located where the westbound car park is today
Graham Cutler writes:
“In the photos of Chamberlain returning from chatting with Hitler, you can see that the aircraft is parked on concrete and not on the grass runways or aprons where the assembled guests were waiting. (They all had to run to the aircraft to greet him). The only thing I am certain about, is that the concrete is laid at the front of one of the hangars – now covered by Heston Services, so it’s almost certain that the location is spot on, although I still can’t get confirmation of any plaque or notice to that effect. ”
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A newspaper at the time wrote: 30th Sept 1938. PM Neville Chamberlain arrived back in the UK today, holding an agreement signed by Adolf Hitler which stated the German leader’s desire never to go to war with Britain again. The two men met at the Munich conference between Britain, Germany, Italy and France yesterday, convened to decide the future of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. Mr Chamberlain declared the accord with the Germans signaled “peace for our time”, after he had read it to a jubilant crowd gathered at Heston airport in west London. |
Trivia:
You cannot access the opposite side of the motorway, by foot or car. There is no bridge access.
The Times in Dec 2008 had an article in which it was said that Gormet Cook Heston Blumenthal got his first name came from his parents love of these services. (source). However, he later said (on Radio 6) that this was only a joke. The story is more interesting than the truth though, and as Tony Wilson would have said; Never let the truth get in the way of a good story
Appears in the film “Hot Fuzz”
Thanks:
Graham Cutler
Back in the 1980s, me and my denim and leather clad heavy-metal chums used to sneak in up the back service road to get late night sausage and chips and very bad tea from the restaurant at Heston Services.
The Heston Services also appeared in an episode of Minder and The Professionals. It always seemed exotic to me as we passed them on the way to my Mothers parents in the late ’60’s, they were then branded/run by the Granada Group. Sadly, they are now, like most older MSA’s a shadow of their former selves?