Motorway service area Motorway service area Motorway service areas in the United Kingdom, also known as 'service stations' or 'services', are places where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop or stay in an on-site overnight hotel. The vast majority of motorway services in the UK are owned by one of three companies: Moto, Welcome Break and Roadchef. Smaller operators include Extra, Westmorland and EuroGarages. The first service area in the UK was at Watford Gap on the M1, which opened with the motorway on 2 November 1959. As more service stations opened, the number of operating companies
Markfield the Red Lion has reopened as an Indian restaurant. The village has a well-funded and run Community Centre built in 1985 which has replaced the old Markfield Memorial Miners Institute as the main community building in the village. There is a Travelodge hotel located on the A50; Markfield has a long association with the quarrying industry and has a particular type of granite, microdiorite named after it. The granite stone (microdiorite) 'Markfieldite' is a very hard granite found in the local area and used in roadstone and railway construction. The former headquarters of Aggregate Industries (now under the Holcim company)