Leicester Forest East - Motorway Service Area

Motorway Service Area

Most people know Leicester Forest East for the Leicester Forest East motorway service station on the M1 motorway, which opened on 14 February 1966 just over a year after the motorway reached Markfield. It was based on an Italian design used on the autostrade which is very unusual in Britain. At the time of opening it was operated by the Ross Group and featured a Terence Conran designed restaurant with a waitress silver service restaurant. There is no legal access for public vehicles to the motorway from within Leicester Forest East (although some members of the public use the slip-road which is properly reserved for service station employees and emergency vehicles as a means of getting on and off the M1).

There were plans to widen the M1 motorway, which if given the go-ahead would have transformed the stretch of the M1 that bisects Leicester Forest East from the current eight lanes to ten lanes. The current plans are to install a "traffic management" system instead, which will use the hard shoulder at busy times, controlled by overhead gantry signals. Many local residents have campaigned against both schemes. The works would result in the closure of Leicester Forest East service station, due to a planned flyover southbound link to the M69. However, even if the plans are approved, it is unlikely to happen before 2016.