Leicester North services
LE4 3BT
map and directions
Single site located at a junction.
This is the former Extra service area at the A46/A6 junction. For the Welcome Break services on the M1, see Leicester Forest East. For the former services at the M1/A50 junction, see Markfield.
One of the A46's larger services, quiet Leicester hasn't got into its stride yet.
Facilities
COVID-19 update: Most service stations are open with fewer facilities. General advice here.
Catering: KFC Drive Thru, Deli by Shell, Costa Express
Shops: Budgens
Main Amenities: Free Cash Machine
Hotel: Ibis Budgetbook
Forecourt: Shell, Air1 AdBlue, Car Wash
Parking Prices
First 2 hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £10 and HGVs, coaches and caravans must pay £14.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
Leicester North Services
Loughborough Road
Birstall
Leicester
Leicestershire
LE4 3BT
- 📞 Telephone number: 020 7968 1888
- 🗺 Grid reference: SK591107
- 📌 what3words: ///plants.pads.nasal
Trivia and History
Leicester was a new style of service area. Its modern design allowed it to have a high capacity with a relatively small footprint, making it easier to build. The flexibility of its units were supposed to allow it to add a lot of choice to the fast A46: in practice, these have proven difficult to lease.
It opened on 24 June 2008. It has a twin sister - Derby & Burton at the A38/A50 interchange opened just over four weeks after Leicester and it almost identical to it. It was also sold at the same time.
In 2011, the local area was being developed with housing which has open access to the service area providing hope that it may develop to also serve the local community.
Initially Extra promoted the site as purely 'Leicester services'. This caused confusion with Markfield, which Moto were promoting as 'Leicester services' at the time. As a result, this site slowly rebranded itself to 'Leicester North' (though it is still not as far north as Leicester Markfield).
Changes
It was built by Extra in a location that would allow them to expand with much less investment than their usual motorway sites. When Extra's parent company Swayfields fell into administration, these services passed to their creditors Lloyds TSB, who subsequently sold this liability to Deutsche Postbank. They contracted their management to Quadrant Estates, who would be responsible for marketing the outlets.
When it was sold, the Extra logo on all the signs was changed to a round blue sign with the letter 'S', which was effectively a placeholder logo making a reference to 'Services'. Most of the branding is now Shell's.
The shop changed from Shell's own-branded Select to a Budgens store on 8 October 2017.
A Banger Bros store opened in May 2019, with their other branch being at the sister Derby site. This closed later in the year, leaving only the KFC and the forecourt. Other former units include Starbucks, Quicksilver and Game Grid.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| none on A46 Leicester Forest East (M1 south, 7 miles) Markfield (A50, 9 miles) | Services on the A46 |
Thrussington (A46 northbound, 5 miles) Newark (33 miles) |