Leicester Forest Services

Opened: 1966 Original owner: Ross / Motoross Current Owner: Welcome Break

Then:

Trivia:
Originally owned and built by Ross – The same company that produces Fresh and Frozen Fish. The Ross Logo used to be on the top of the distinctive water tower.

Originally built with Restaurant on the bridge (at most services a bridge is just a bridge). The restaurant is still located on the Bridge today. It was the last service area built like this. Whilst originally they were viewed as giving a wonderful view, later thinking considered that they gave little relief from the motorway!

When it opened, it was the furthest MSA north.

Opened with a Terrance Conran designed restaurant called the Captains Table, served by waitresses dressed as sailors!

The loos currently have a 5 Star Loo of the year Award 2003 along with 33 others in the road transport category. (find best loos overall)

Leicester Forest in the 1981. You can see the promende which we think at one time was open to visitors. Closed early 70’s though.

Bruce Crawford remembers when Leicester Forest East services was owned by Motoross. “Me and my pals used to go there for sausage egg & chips every Friday night after the pub! We would drive down the motorway (the driver sober, of course!) from Loughborough for a midnight feast – far better than kebabs, ha ha.”

“It was affectionately known to us at that time as “Rosses” and in fact we all still refer to it by that name, although it has of course changed almost beyond recognition now (sadly).”

Richard Loweth recalls:

“I worked here during the time of the Grunwick Picket in the late 1970s. Twenty to thirty coach loads of Yorkshire Miners arriving in the “small hours” midway down to London. It was like bedlam!

I worked the 10.00pm to 8.00am shift as it paid a higher hourly rate…I think £1.62…and you got two half hour breaks instead of just the one on the day shifts!

There were actually FOUR restaurants at LFE. Two at either end and two on the bridge. Those on the bridge were “The Captain’s Table” and also, for its day, very advanced one where you sat on a stool and eat from a long bar…like a American Diner.

Although when I actually worked there one, or maybe both (I can’t now remember) of these two, on the bridge had been converted into a coffee lounge with low round tables and black leather armchairs.

After 10.00pm and until 8.00pm only one restaurant would be open. Usually that on the Northbound Side. ”

The west side of Leicester forest, with a terrace open. Don’t know the date, but guessing its 60’s . You can still decend the steps in this picture, virtually unchanged, and very worn! – A wonderful retro feel.

Current:
The top of the water tower now bears a KFC logo, and not Welcome Break.
These services are quite clean and have recently been modernised, but tends to be quite busy. Most food outlets are on the Bridge, so visitors from n/b and s/b share the same space.

From Mike Gayler: “There is ‘talk’ that if the M1 is widened to 4 lanes north of J21a, and that J21 is redevelloped (possibly including a flyover from M1 to M69) then the Leicester Forest East Service area will need to close (it’s currently a hazardous exit southbound as it stands). The suggestion is that it will be replaced with the ‘ghost’ area at Lutterworth (near J20), which is currently a Leicestershire County Council site. There is an off-route service area at J22 as well. ” – (As a foot note to this, the government has announced this widening will not take place until at least 2017!!! So Leicester Forest is safe for years yet!)

A recent revamp has put hanging lights over the tables edging the windows on the bridge. This is very much like the original lights when the services opened (although they were copper shades, not glass).

Several people ask “where was Leicester Forest West- is that an unbuilt services?” – No. The name is taken from the local area, like most MSA’s. The M1 does not pass near the area known as Leicester forest West, which is a hamlet/parish with a population of 30

Thanks
Ross Bowman for the modern picture
Bruce Crawford for the 80’s picture & story
Mike Gayler
Richard Loweth