Jimi Hendrix thought it was a nightclub, of their early days The Beatles frequently dropped in on their approach south from Liverpool and Gerry Marsden of the Pacemakers rated it as a superb place for a “quick stop and a quick nosh”.

Welcome to Watford Gap providers, positioned on either side of the M1, the southbound website being the primary motorway providers to open within the UK, again in 1959.

With its vibrant historical past as a relaxation cease for main bands within the Nineteen Sixties earlier than service stations grew to become extra widespread, Watford Gap has acquired the standing of cultural icon. (One waitress bought her e-book of autographs for £1000.)

But if you wish to expertise its vibe one final time, you’d higher be fast as a result of Roadchef, the corporate that owns it, plans to knock it down and exchange it with one thing extra in tune with the twenty first century, albeit with a show celebrating its superb previous.

“Watford Gap services is the jewel in Roadchef’s crown,” explains Amanda Mason, head of selling on the firm. “Customers have a powerful emotional attachment to it and there are nonetheless individuals residing close by who, as youngsters, would drop in to see which stars have been getting back from gigs late at evening.

But because the gateway to the north and south, each websites have to evolve. People’s causes for wanting to go to – to relaxation, to eat and to refuel or recharge – will stay the identical however we have to safe the enterprise for the long run and ensure Watford Gap is sustainable.”

Today, the distinction between the principle constructing on the southbound carriageway, which appears to be like nearly because it did 65 years in the past, and the rank of 12 sensible new 350kW high-speed Gridserve chargers serving the most recent electric cars provides weight to Mason’s argument. 

There’s no redevelopment date but however Roadchef’s plans are effectively superior. To assist guarantee the brand new facility is, as its predecessor was, a trend-setter, final yr Roadchef organised a contest amongst college students within the Innovation division at Bristol University, inviting them to ‘blue-sky’ concepts for the brand new website, exploring themes round individuals, the long run and the atmosphere.

Mason was inspired by the outcomes. “The competition has changed the way we think about what the next generation wants from a service station,” she says. “The way younger people think about driving and travel is very different from people even just a decade or so older than them.”

I’m a number of a long time older nonetheless so forgive me if I don’t wholly share her pleasure. A circus and a funfair for the children? Virtual actuality headsets that enable guests to view the standard one-arm bandit space at a Las Vegas on line casino and even the Grand National? I’m undecided about these pupil concepts, particularly when Mason tells me the 52 million prospects who go to Roadchef’s 30 service stations every year linger for lower than 20 minutes.