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Pavilion

MSO Home - Operators - Pavilion

Pavilion formed after a management buyout of a previous company called Rank. Rank (also known as Top Rank, part of the Rank Group) started out in the 70s and built some of the older Moto services out there. Their services were notable for having a structure which looked like an air traffic control tower, such as the ones at the original Severn View, Hilton Park and the most famous of them all at Lancaster. The towers originally housed a restaurant but they have since been replaced with offices due to health and safety legislations (the building at Severn View isn't used at all any more).

In 1992 a management buy-out resulted in the services being branded as Pavilion. The new company said they wanted to create a "holiday atmosphere". They were the first operator to introduce high street brands to their sites, but by 1995 the cost of all these services (and the demise of Severn View) had hit them hard and all of their services were bought by Granada, who took the ideas further and chased up 24 pending planning permission applications which had all been created by Pavilion.

The move, for the first time, knocked Trusthouse Forte to second position as the UK's largest MSA operator. They said that they had considered buying Pavilion but backed off because they didn't want to be investigated by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Only a few months later, Granada bought Trusthouse Forte and consequently featured in a lengthy investigation by the Commission, who told Granada to sell off many sites.

Pavilion also had two smaller services on the A1 and A55 which were shrunk and sold off to Trusthouse Forte.