Leicester Forest East

Leicester Forest East
Welcome Break
15 more photos in the gallery
Road:	M1 between J21 and J21a
Address:	Welcome Break Leicester Forest East Motorway Services Area Hinckley Road Leicester Forest East Leicester Leicestershire LE3 3GB
Telephone number:	01162 386801
Signposted from the road?	As Starbucks/Waitrose
Opened:	1966
Previous operators:	Ross
Grid reference:	SK538026
Services type:	Single site built upon the motorway.
Visit Leicester Forest East/Welcome Break's official website Facebook Page

An old and small service area with all the restaurants on the bridge, packed in between two junctions. Its age is hidden by the many facelifts it has received, although it's due to close soon. It forms a gateway to The National Forest, and as such it has information boards and viewpoints.

Main Page | Photo Gallery | Location, Map and Directions

Facilities

General: BT WiFi, Local Information, Picnic Tables, Conference Room, Showers, Traffic Information, Welcome Break Gaming
Restaurants: Burger King, Eat In, KFC, Starbucks, Papa John's Pizza
Shops: Fone Bitz, Waitrose, WHSmith (with Costa Express Krispy Kreme)
Fuel: BP (with: Wild Bean Café LPG)
Motel: Days Inn (northbound only)

Parking Prices

First two hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £10. Further information is not available, please update this if you know.

Prices can be paid in the shop and restaurant, with instructions in each car park. They are strictly enforced by ParkingEye.

Trivia

A view of the iconic bridge

Leicester Forest East is a very old service area, and by the turn of the millennium it had become dire and had been extended so far that it was now entirely concrete and asphalt.

Since then, the services have been completely refurbished. It's far from perfect - there just isn't the room to give it the extension it needs - but it feels and looks so much nicer.

During the early days of the services, you would have been able to walk along the promenade and terrace alongside the bridge, but these have both closed due to health and safety. At the time it was built, the design was already falling out of favour, but it was probably approved in the hope that the operator, Ross, would bring some variety to the motorway network. Ross felt that the motorway site would provide good exposure for their products.

The whole site was designed to be luxurious, and the Captain's Table restaurant certainly impressed, receiving a five-star rating from the AA. This was soon scaled down. The most unique thing about the services is that as you leave the northbound steps off the bridge you are thrown in to the shop, although this may have changed since it became a WHSmith. This was simply down to a lack of space.

Many people ask about the name 'Leicester Forest East', given that the services are west of Leicester and there is no Leicester Forest. The answer is that they are located east of the village of Leicester Forest East, which itself is east of Leicester Forest West. Clever, eh?

The services were designed along with this bit of the M1, which both opened in 1965. There is a Highways Agency works depot on the northbound exit and the local press described the services as "Leicestershire's best known landmark".

There is a Geocaching point located on the southbound emergency access road. The Days Inn motel opened in December 1999 and was the first at a Welcome Break.

In 2009 the services hit media attention after the adjacent hotel was used as overflow digs by Leicester University.

Future

See details: The Rise and Fall of Leicester Forest East

The services are currently in a fairly dangerous position, as there are busy junctions either side and the M1 is four lanes with no hard shoulder through the services. The Highways Agency want to widen the M1 here yet again and they want to expand J21, both of which would require the services to be closed as they would be too dangerous. This was due to happen in 2010, but it has now been put back to 2017.

Amongst other things, a Facebookgroup has been set up.

Ecotricity plan to install Electric Vehicle Charging Points at this site.

Survey Results

In May 2012 and August 2011, Visit England rated the services as 3 stars.

In 2008 the northbound services won a five star loo award.

In 2007, the northbound services won a five star loo award. The southbound site was rated four stars.

In 2006, both sides of the services won a five-star loo award.

Also in 2006, the services were rated three out of five by Holiday Which?

Back in 1968, a Which? review of the services found that they had the only decent restaurant on the motorway network.

Alternatives