Newport Pagnell Services is a
motorway service station
Motorway service areas in the United Kingdom and Ireland, also known as services or service stations, are rest areas where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop or stay in an on-site overnight hotel. The vas ...
between junctions 14 and 15 of the
M1 motorway
The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which ...
near
Newport Pagnell in the
City of Milton Keynes
The City of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area with both borough and city status, in Buckinghamshire. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Region. The borough abuts Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the remainder ...
, north
Buckinghamshire, England. It is owned and operated by
Welcome Break
Welcome Break is a British motorway service station operator that operates 35 motorway service stations in the UK. It is the second-largest motorway service area operator behind Moto. It also operates hotels and motels. It is a subsidiary of ...
.
History
Newport Pagnell Services was one of the first service stations to be opened in the UK, opening the same day as
Watford Gap services
Watford Gap services are motorway services on the M1 motorway in Northamptonshire, England. They opened on 2 November 1959, the same day as the M1, making them one of the oldest motorway services in Britain. The facilities were originally mana ...
on 2 November 1959. Newport Pagnell was the first to fully open for all traffic, opening on 15th August 1960, a month before Watford Gap.
Like the motorway, the site was designed by Sir
Owen Williams. The services were opened by
Forte
Forte or Forté may refer to:
Music
*Forte (music), a musical dynamic meaning "loudly" or "strong"
* Forte number, an ordering given to every pitch class set
* Forte (notation program), a suite of musical score notation programs
* Forte (vocal ...
, and were taken over by Welcome Break in 1988.
The service station is one of fourteen for which large murals were commissioned from artist
David Fisher in the 1990s, designed to reflect the local area and history.
In the news
On 3 September 2007, a
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
coach from
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
to
Luton Airport and
Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London.
London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...
(making an unscheduled stop) failed to make a turn on the approach road and overturned. A number of people including the driver were seriously injured. The driver was subsequently convicted of drink driving and dangerous driving.
[BBC News]
M1 coach crash driver is jailed
References
External links
Motorway Services Online - Newport PagnellMotorway Services Trivia Website - Newport Pagnell
{{Transport in Buckinghamshire
1959 establishments in the United Kingdom
Buildings and structures in Milton Keynes
M1 motorway service stations
Transport infrastructure completed in 1959
Welcome Break motorway service stations