Iconic service station where Stones, Beatles and Hendrix stopped off faces demolition
Britain’s oldest and most historic motorway service station faces demolition under plans to build a low-carbon replacement that can cope with electric vehicle drivers.
Watford Gap Services on the M1, which was Britain’s first service station when it opened in 1959, is to be demolished and rebuilt with more space for electric vehicles (EVs) to park while they charge.
The iconic services in Northamptonshire were known as the gateway to the North and once renowned as the meeting place for 1960s musicians such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd as they travelled between gigs.
Then, Watford Gap was even described as the “epicentre of cool” and a cultural landmark[1]. Sir Cliff Richard was also a visitor.
Now Roadchef, which runs both the northbound and southbound sites[2], wants to demolish the sprawling, mostly single-storey buildings and build new facilities including up to 150 EV charging points and a double-decker car park.
The development could also include an airport-style executive lounge for business travellers to check their emails and make calls while their vehicle is plugged in.
Mark Fox, Roadchef’s chief executive, said the Watford Gap was “past its sell-by date” and needed to be redeveloped.
Roadchef chief Mark Fox said the Watford Gap was ‘past its sell-by date’ and needed to be redeveloped
Credit: Keenstock / Alamy Stock Photo
However, Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society, which campaigns to protect Britain’s iconic post-1914 buildings, said Watford Gap was a cultural and architectural icon whose demolition would be a great loss.
Ms Croft said: “Service stations like Watford Gap celebrated the glamour and sense of possibility that travel within the UK offered, and in most cases made innovative use of new materials, both robust concrete on the exteriors and new synthetic fabrics, carpets and curtains in vibrant colours indoors.”
The building of Watford Gap followed the 1955 announcement of the final line of the M1, the UK’s first motorway. Lyndon Smith, owner of the Blue Boar garage group won planning permission and opened it in 1959, initially operating from a wooden shed with one petrol pump.
The site rapidly expanded and by the mid-1960s the services had become a meeting place for some of the decade’s most iconic rock bands, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix. The services provided a convenient place to sit down and eat a meal while travelling back from gigs in the early hours of the morning.
Jimi Hendrix initially heard so much about the service station that he reportedly thought it was a London nightclub
Credit: Regent Sounds/Bruce Flemming
A set of photos published in 2008 showed the Rolling Stones stopping off at Watford Gap on the way to ATV studios in Birmingham in 1963.
Jimi Hendrix initially heard so much about “Blue Boar”, as the services were then popularly known, that he reportedly thought it was a London nightclub – until he visited.
Staff at the services used to collect autographs from the celebrities they served. Beatrice England, who worked the night shift at Blue Boar Services, had an autograph book that included the signatures of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, The Eagles, Dusty Springfield and Sir Cliff Richard.
Roy Harper, a renowned folk guitarist, even wrote a song, Watford Gap, about the services, including the lines: “It’s the Watford Gap, Watford Gap, a plate of grease and a load of crap” – said to resonate with fellow musicians
Dusty Springfield was one of a roster of musicians who visited Watford Gap
Credit: David Redfern/Redferns
Mr Fox said: “Watford gap, which is the original service station opened in 1959, just needs to be knocked down and rebuilt.
“It’s past its sell-by date, particularly the southbound, which was the first one opened. We’ve spent money on it over the years and inside it’s kind of okay.
“But we’re not proud of it as a physical asset and we want to build a new one on the corner of the site and then level the old one.”
Mr Fox said that despite its history Watford Gap was “not British architecture at its finest”. He said Roadchef had already designed a “contemporary modern building” to replace it, complete with air conditioning and charging facilities for up to 150 cars.
It means the restaurants where stars dined may soon be turned into car parking.
The restaurants where stars dined may soon be turned into car parking
Ms Croft said the history should be commemorated on the site with an exhibition in the replacement building and an archive held at a local museum.
She said: “Perhaps the saddest thing is that much of what made these places so exciting and special was down to the graphics, the furniture and the sense that they were at the time the only place likely to open for lonely night owls wanting to get together with a real mix of people. All long gone.
“We need a real counterpoint to the mediocrity and blandness we generally put up with at service stations today.”
Roadchef is currently negotiating a new lease with the Department for Transport (DfT) which owns both the northbound and southbound sites before starting any redevelopment.
A DfT spokesman said it was in discussions with the operators but was strongly supportive of moves to expand charging facilities.
References
- ^ and a cultural landmark (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ which runs both the northbound and southbound sites (www.telegraph.co.uk)