Watford Gap

Watford Gap
RoadChef
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Road:	M1 between J16 and J17
Address:	Watford Gap Motorway Services Area M1 Watford Northampton Northamptonshire NN6 7UZ
Telephone number:	01327 879001
Signposted from the road?	Yes
Opened:	1959
Previous operators:	Blue Boar
Grid reference:	SP599680
Services type:	Two sites located between junctions, connected by a pedestrian footbridge.
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One of those services which everyone talks about but you never use, Watford Gap is a nice service station in a nasty casing. It generally picks up mixed reviews and has been refurbished several times.

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Facilities

General: BT Openzone, Business Lounge, Showers, Traffic Information
Restaurants: RestBite (southbound only), Hot Food Company (northbound only), Wimpy (northbound only), The Burger Company (southbound only), Costa Coffee
Shops: WH Smith, Fonebitz
Fuel: BP (pump types unknown)
Motel: Premier Inn^{[book rooms]}

Parking Prices

First two hours free for all vehicles, after which HGVs must pay £20, or £22 to include a £10 food voucher.

Further information is not available, please update this if you know.

Trivia and History

The original services building

The traditional 'gateway to the north', Watford Gap is Britain's oldest and quite possibly most notorious service area. It is named after the nearby area, more specifically the nearby village of Watford, however this is often mixed up with the much larger Watford found further down the M1. Like most services, the question staff are asked most is "where are we?", but that's usually followed by "is that near London?".

Watford (the small one) has a long-running transport history. It sits off Watling Street, the Roman Road which is today part of the A5 and formed an important pre-motorway route between London and Birmingham. It is also near the Great Union Canal (again, London to Birmingham), the West Coast Main Line (surprise, surprise, London to Birmingham) and most recently Britain's first motorway, the M1, which originally ran from London to Birmingham and passes through the village. When you consider all this, it would only make sense to make this the home of our first service station.

The services sit against the mainline and they opened on the same day as the motorway, 2nd November 1959. It is built on a disused farm, and when it was due to open the buildings weren't ready so food was sold from temporary old sheds.

Blue Boar were the original operator and this came to be as they ran a hotel on the A5 and claimed that the opening of the motorway would ruin their business, so they were offered the services as compensation. Blue Boar continued to run the services and built three others, until 1999 where they were bought by RoadChef.

When the services opened they became a prominent landmark for drivers and their fine-dining eating experiences meant that they were very popular. They were such a novelty that they reached their maximum capacity on their first day! The original plan was that Watford Gap would become a lorries-only service station and the second one, Newport Pagnell down the road, would be for cars. However, at the time Blue Boar didn't want to build another service area and they didn't want to send half their traffic to someone else, so the plans never went ahead.

Roy Harper once released a song titled Watford Gap with the chorus "Watford Gap, Watford Gap, grease on the plates, it's a load of crap" - the full lyrics can be found on Guga Lyrics. It was on his album 'Bullinamingvase', but was dropped after Blue Boar allegedly threatened to sue. Some sources claim the song was dropped as a member of his EMI board also worked for the services, but that's unlikely. Either way, a full version of the song is very hard to get hold of.

The services seem to sit on an invisible line across the country which divides the north from the south. Southerners claim that there is no culture or sophistication north of Watford Gap, and northerners claim that the line forms the boundary of humour, humility and humanity. People will also refer to things as being "the best ____ this side of Watford Gap", however this is often shortened to just Watford, not at all helped by the signs on the M1 which read 'Watford & The North', potentially implying that Watford is the last place in the south. These expressions are generally unheard of anywhere beyond Surrey, Derby and The West Midlands.

Watford Gap was where RoadChef tried WH Smith, it is a success and it will soon be rolled out at all their services. In 2010 the services are likely to get a Hot Food Company restaurant, or at least have the restaurant changed to that format.

50th Anniversary Celebrations

The services on its 50th birthday

More information: 50 Years of Motorway Services

On the 2nd November 2009 Watford Gap (Britain's first motorway service area) - and the M1 (the first long-distance motorway) turned 50 years old, and a whole host of names including former members of staff were invited to help celebrate the occasion.

On the 28th January 2009 RoadChef paid £1000 at an auction for a book with autographs of various celebrities who visited the services in the '60s and '70s. They were collected by an ex-Blue Boar employee and scans from this were displayed at the services.

On the 16th and 17th October the BBC filmed various scenes all over the services which were used to create 'Watford Gap: The Musical', a nine-minute musical about "the one-stop round the clock roadside pioneer". It was written by Benjamin Till who, amongst other things, had previously written 'A1: The Road Musical'. The musical can be seen online and was premièred at 7pm at the northbound Costa Coffee to an invited audience. It was also aired at this time on BBC Radio Northampton, who hosted their drivetime show live at the services in anticipation of the musical, talking to various visitors during the show.

The services were decorated with balloons and a red carpet, and a fingerpost sign was added to the car park directing people to "the north" and "the south". The transport minister Chris Mole officially re-opened the services by unveiling an plaque within the services.

As a throwback to the early days, the RestBite restaurant was selling cups of tea to all visitors for 6p, however people soon discovered that free refreshments were being provided too!

The event was reported on 'BBC Breakfast', 'BBC News at Six', 'Look East', 'Inside Out' and many local BBC Radio Stations. The whole thing was done whilst keeping the services fully operational, so many ordinary customers were surprised to pull in and be guided to a parking space by marshals and meeting a foyer full of people in suits.

On this day a petition was created to have 'Watford Gap' added to the Oxford English Dictionary for its relevance to the north-south divide.

Survey Results

In 2006, Holiday Which? rated the services at 3/5.

Alternatives

Comments and Reviews

Showing the most recent responses only: for the full thread and the ability to edit your own posts, you need to view the topic in the forums.
Author: Message: Anonymous Roy Harper's exact lyrics were: "Watford Gap, Watford Gap A plate of grease and a load of crap" in fact, I might as well give the whole lyric: "Just about a mile from where the motorways all merge You can view the national edifice, a monumental splurge It's the lonesome traveler's rotgut or bacteria's revenge The great plastic spectacular descendant of Stonehenge And the people come to worship on their death-defying wheels Fancy-dressed as shovels for their death-defying meals It's the Watford Gap, Watford Gap A plate of grease and a load of crap At one a.m. on Sunday you can hear the boys declare That the other team were fairies and the ref was Fred Astaire It's Chopper Ronnie's fan club on their weekly pilgrimage To stick the hero's boot in all the way from Stamford Bridge And without a solid concrete-burger no night is complete Plastic cups of used bathwater wash away defeat It's the Watford Gap, Watford Gap A plate of grease and a load of crap The traffic jam is rattling like a five-mile cornered snake With fuming pieces falling off and steaming in its wake The city's like a goolie in a groupie's stagnant womb Spaghetti Junction's target in the vinegar strokes of doom The countryside is ravaged like a syphilitic whore Yodeling up the canyon is the dirty old Blue Boar It's the Watford Gap, Watford Gap A plate of grease and a load of crap" Posted: 16 Aug 2010, 16:02 Johnny Visited both sides at 3pm on the 8th April. It was surprisingly calm for an M1 service area, and the northbound side had recently been refurbished and was looking very smart. All in all, much better than I was expecting, though I can't help but wonder whether it would be much more popular if it didn't have a Wimpy. Posted: 11 Apr 2010, 14:49 David The thing I remember most is the paper plates, plastic cups and plastic knives and forks. Eggs and chips had a whole new meaning when you had eaten half,the plate was easily eaten as well due to the fat . The reason, so far as I understand, was that there was no washing up facilities there . I bet that filled a lot of landfill but then we did not worry about it. It was originally only supposed to be a lorry stop but Newport Pagnall was not open, so all vehicles went there. Many the time I rode from the Busy Bee at Watford to Watford Gap and back, before there was a speed limit. Posted: 20 Mar 2010, 21:34 ENGINEER I WAS THE SECOND CAR BEHIND THE TAPE A FEW MILES NORTH OF WATFORD GAP ON 2ND NOVEMBER 1959. ONCE THE TAPE WAS CUT I DROVE SOUTH BUT I NEEDED PETROL SO WENT INTO WATFORD GAP. I WAS THE FIRST MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC TO USE THE SERVICES AND A MEMBER OF THE SERVICES STAFF TOOK MY PHOTO. (I HAVEN'T GOT A COPY - DOES ANYONE HAVE ONE?) Posted: 02 Nov 2009, 15:56 soundman This was always a stopping point for most of us bands going north from London(back in the 1960's)It was bloody awful food and even worse coffee!! but,and i hope you won't think we were all spivs in London,there was always a lot of knocked off goods being sold in the lorry park!(oh,they were halcyon days back then!!)The police tended to turn a blind eye to most of the"acquired"goods being sold at"knockdown prices"(In fact,i've seen policemen have some of the aforementioned goods themselves!!Perhaps they were taking them away to use as"evidence"!!!!!)But the place still has a certain"nostalgic"feeling to it!(the food and drink has improved,slightly,but it's still nothing to get excited about!!) Posted: 12 Jun 2009, 03:01 Anonymous I visited Watford Gap North 25 of December 2008. Well Done for Costa and WHSmiths team. Excellent job! Posted: 04 Jan 2009, 20:56 Anonymous On the the 14th of December we pulled in at Watford Gap Service Area 10.30 pm. and found the service at the coffee bar to be very good, but the tables in the seating area were dirty and uncleaned from previous users, on going to the men toilets the Wc's were in a terrible condition, with 7 of the w c's out of order and the only one without a sticker on the door was in such a state it was unusable. After travelling on the Continent for a week where the toilets in all the locations we went to were in pristine condition and in working order,and,although we had to pay a small fee in some cases. Come on UK we can do better than this. Disgruntled traveller Posted: 15 Dec 2008, 11:16 Admin Post your comments and reviews for Watford Gap here, or you can return to Watford Gap. Posted: 08 Jan 2006, 12:35
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