Opened: 1978?
Original owner: Blue Boar
Current Owner: Roadchef
Original Name: Rothersthorpe


Then:
Originally named Rothersthorpe

For many years a Truck-only stop
Northampton.
Northampton Services Southbound, 2008. Honest I haven't just used a Norton Cannes picture, theres no fountains.

Trivia:
In the old building (now demolished) crossing the footbridge would lead directly into the MSA building.

Offline-ish services- the site is accessable from the A43 without touching the M1. The M1 slip for the services is shared with the A43 slip. (multimap)

If you buy food here on a credit card, your bill will read BLUE BOAR MSA - a touch of its past!

Rothersthorpe under construction
Blue Boar - Rothersthorpe under construction. This building has been demolished, as it was rather too small to cope with growing demand on the road, and the authorities preferred to see this site re-developed rather than build another infill site.


Current:
Rebuilt in 2002 and the footbridge is now no longer usable.
The design is almost exactly the same asNorton Canes, if you are inside it could be hard to tell which you were in. Its a pleasant stop, light and airy, Costa Coffee a little a slow as normal.
2008 - Several peak time stops here have found the place empty- see below. Food was ok, although a little on the cooler side for something cooked to order. Certainly can't complain about queues!
Free Wi-fi! Woo hoo!
Very quiet
Rush hour at Northampton.

Received votes so far and a sample of comments:
People who prefer this MSA 13
People happy to visit 15
People who avoid this MSA 7
Selection of comments received
  • The worlds best MSA in my opinion! - 2006-09-22
  • As a truck driver i use this if passing as opposed to a msa. Lymm truckstop is not an MSA as some quote and when there is a Q of people in the restaurant(e.g.coaches) truckers are allowed to jump the Q. - 2007-03-04
  • Very good MSA - 2008-05-13
  • This was known as the Blue Boar Back in the sixties, about the only one on the M1 when my band used to thrash up and down from London to the North. All sorts of Musos would meet at odd hours over a congealed fry-up - 2009-06-23
  • Not nearly as good as Cherwell had been prior to its sad demise through fire earlier this year - 2010-08-25
  • Stopped here for breakfast on the way back from Nottingham to London today. Expensive, but not exhorbitant - what you expect from a service station. Traditional breakfast was small but hot, and cuppa was very welcome. No major complaints! - 2010-10-29
  • Expensive breakfast. £9 for small coffee and very basic cooked breakfast - 2010-12-17
This is a very old site, and we used to have a voting/comment system here, but for now it is turned off, sorry. Please also note the comments above are very old too and won't necessarily reflect the current state of the site and reflect the opinion of a visitor to the website, not the view of the website operator.