1 The first service areas in Britain were built by
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the Roman Empire, and those provided for non-official travellers harboured thieves and prostitutes who left behind graffiti and other evidence of their activities in the stables, bath houses and dining rooms, 2,000 years ago.
2 Adolf Hitler created the first true motorway services in the early 1930s, including one with a lake shore setting and sumptuous banqueting and dancing areas.
3 British roadhouses, the forerunners of our service stations, came complete with all the facilities needed for a weekend away – swimming pools, jazz bands, bedrooms and occasionally a private airstrip. One ended its time as a Playboy club.
4 The waitresses at Washington Birtley services on A1 (M) were trained in manicure, how to walk correctly, and how to deliver a baby in an emergency.
5 When Mecca opened its Trowell village in 1967, the interiors featured knights in armour, a Robin Hood theme, a full-size plastic tree, and in the washrooms there were foot-operated taps that attracted travellers from across the Midlands.
6 In 2009 Roadchef and BBC TV celebrated the half-century of Watford Gap with a flourish and Watford Gap – The Musical. It’s online and well worth a look.
7 Comedian Peter Kay launched his television career with At the Services, filmed entirely at Bolton West on the M61. Television personality Alan Partridge spent much of his time at motorway lodges.
8 Tebay Services has won food and farming awards and been officially visited by Prince Charles.
9 London’s School of Life organised an M1 holiday where a group of travellers had breakfast at the Ace Café, lunch at Watford Gap and afternoon tea at Newport Pagnell.
Fortes, once owners of five-star hotels around the world, issued picture postcards of their service stations.
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