| Knutsford | |
| Moto | |
 | |
| Road: | M6 between J18 and J19 |
| Address: | Granada Services Knutsford Motorway Service Area Northwich Road Knutsford Cheshire WA16 0TL |
| Telephone number: | 01565 634167 |
| Signposted from the road? | As Burger King/Costa/M&S |
| Opened: | 1963 |
| Previous operators: | Rank, Pavilion, Granada |
| Grid reference: | SJ733783 |
| Services type: | Single site built upon the motorway. |
| Visit Knutsford Northbound/Moto's official website Visit Knutsford Southbound/Moto's official website Facebook Page | |
Knutsford is an old service area with the restaurant on the bridge. The services are very close to J19, and the northbound onslip is very short.
There is very little space for lorries in the services (hence a half-hearted ban on them), so instead lorries are directed to Moto's nearby Lymm Truckstop.
Contents |
Facilities
General: Local Information, Showers, Moto Free WiFi
Restaurants: Eat & Drink Co., Burger King, Costa, West Cornwall Pasty Co. (southbound only)
Shops: WHSmith (with Costa Express Krispy Kreme), M&S Simply Food
Fuel: BP (with: Costa Express air1 AdBlue LPG)
Motel: Travelodge[book rooms]
Parking Prices
First two hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £11 and HGVs £23.50, or £25 to include a £9 food voucher.
Prices are paid using PayByPhone - more details. The location code is 2446 (northbound) and 2447 (southbound).
The fees are strictly enforced by CP Plus.
Trivia
On the 9th of December 2004 a Marks and Spencers opened here - Moto's fourth at the time. A shortage of space and increase in HGV-crimes led to Moto asking all lorries to head to their larger, securer site at Lymm. However, if you drive past all the 'no lorries' signs, you'll find that there are spaces for lorries available, albeit signposted 'emergency parking only'. This doesn't seem to deter lorries.
For a short while the parking prices came with an unusual (and expensive) tier system with five different lengths of stay available (24 hours cost £35). This has now been replaced by the standard '2 or 24 hours' system.
The layout within the services is very odd. The Travelodge reception is actually inside the main amenities building, at the back. Whilst the gents toilets are at the back, the ladies and disabled are at the far back (there appears to be another toilet block next to the gents which is fenced off). Originally the entire service station was built on the bridge, with just steps on each side, now there are restaurants and M&S up there, both against the wall, with a traditional corridor running along the south end of the bridge.
Several applications for a Travelodge on both sides of the services were previous rejected as the land is green belt and at the time of the first application (1994) there were few other lodges at service areas and the Highways Agency believed they might be misused. The area by the north-east side of the service area has been left clear to allow for an expansion.
The Highways Agency recently listed it as an approved truckstop, despite it only having 27 HGV spaces.
The stand-up comedy show 'Rhod Gilbert and the Award-Winning Mince Pie' is based entirely on his experience here and at service stations in general.
Survey Results
In May 2012 and August 2011, Visit England rated the services as 3 stars.
In 2006 the services won a four star loo award.
Also in 2006, Holiday Which? rated the services at 3/5.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| Sandbach (12 miles) | Services on the M6 | Lymm (6 miles) |
| Stafford (North) (M6 northbound, 23 miles) Hilton Park (53 miles) | Moto services | Lymm (6 miles) |
With thanks to Alex for the information used on this page.