In the mid 70s all the motorway services had a seperate area for truck drivers, They have all expanded and the truckers bit gone.
Lecister forest had a seperate building nr the back fence. watford gap it was on the far right,I think thats where the reception is to the travel lodge. Nortbound it was on the corner nr to the truck park. Same as southbound but no travel lodge.
Toddington the truckers bit became the toilets at the front of the building. Scratchwood they made the cafe into a shop
and where the cafe is now was the truck part only smaller. Hilton park and Forton was upstairs. Keele and Knutsford was on the bridge section .
Am i going on to much sorry
John.
Has anyone mentioned Stan Waters? Although not strictly transport caffs…he had quite a few cafe’s on the Dock Rd area of Liverpool where I, and many other drivers, whiled away many hours when stuck in the dock queues waiting to be tipped. 
3300John:
In the mid 70s all the motorway services had a seperate area for truck drivers, They have all expanded and the truckers bit gone.
Lecister forest had a seperate building nr the back fence. watford gap it was on the far right,I think thats where the reception is to the travel lodge. Nortbound it was on the corner nr to the truck park. Same as southbound but no travel lodge.
Toddington the truckers bit became the toilets at the front of the building. Scratchwood they made the cafe into a shop
and where the cafe is now was the truck part only smaller. Hilton park and Forton was upstairs. Keele and Knutsford was on the bridge section .
Am i going on to much sorry
John.
Not at all John, I think you have made the point very well.
Originally they were required to provide separate facilities, when they were released from that condition they went for the money. 
Leicester Forest was a good service area and I always used to make for there when running down at night to London and again on the way back.The lorry drivers place used to shut about 2100 I think and re-open at either 0600 or 0700.The whole southbound area was shut after about 2300 so everybody had to use the northbound side.
It was a good place to park and fiddle home to Sheffield as well,a lot of Sheffield drivers used it .
Chris Webb:
It was a good place to park and fiddle home to Sheffield as well,a lot of Sheffield drivers used it
And twice their number of Nottingham/Derby drivers too I reckon. 
think this may ring a bell with some people on here lol of the older variety lol …
the silent seventh and old cafe and digs but where was it
Bogieman, have not got a clue? 
hiya,
Back to Watling St cafe, does anybody remember the tomato plants that used to spring up between the sleepers huts from about May onwards, it was supposed to be the drivers taking the catering size tomato tins out of the bins when en- route to your cubicle to use as a “jerry” the toilets being ten days camel ride from your bed, in the morning tip it out the window seeds and all drop the can back in the bin when en-route for breakfast, but not me guv, i could hold my water in those far off days.
thanks harry long retired.
Chris Webb:
Leicester Forest was a good service area and I always used to make for there when running down at night to London and again on the way back.The lorry drivers place used to shut about 2100 I think and re-open at either 0600 or 0700.The whole southbound area was shut after about 2300 so everybody had to use the northbound side.
It was a good place to park and fiddle home to Sheffield as well,a lot of Sheffield drivers used it
You seemed to do a lot on the fiddle Chris 
Woodside, Leicester Forest, Lancashire 
Wheel Nut:
Chris Webb:
Leicester Forest was a good service area and I always used to make for there when running down at night to London and again on the way back.The lorry drivers place used to shut about 2100 I think and re-open at either 0600 or 0700.The whole southbound area was shut after about 2300 so everybody had to use the northbound side.
It was a good place to park and fiddle home to Sheffield as well,a lot of Sheffield drivers used itYou seemed to do a lot on the fiddle Chris
Woodside, Leicester Forest, Lancashire
I’ve had my share of dodgys Malc. With Sheffield being fairly central it was easy to get to.To run off route was frowned upon by Evans,for instance if you were loaded for the NCB refinery at Wath from Easington they would sooner pay you a night out at Doncaster rather than take the wagon back to Sheffield.Our BP drivers would be out all week,sometimes on a dodgy at Woodhall Services and never go into the Sheffield depot to fill up.We would very often be out in Lancashire on spot hire work for a week,sometimes a fortnight and because of loading/delivery times the hours were low so the only way to make it pay was by log-booking over Woodhead and back.did you know Warrington,Ellesmere Port,Hyde and Stockport were all in Manchester? Flexible log books were great.
I was once loaded for Protim at Darlington from Harwich and because of a leaking valve I had to get it done at Sheffield.I’d done a temp repair (a couple of gallons of water into the compartment stopped the parrafin - like substance leaking).When I pulled in the yard the traffic office supervisor played hell about me being off route before I’d even had time to explain.We had stacks of jobs that took us near home.One was from John Summers BSC) Shotton to Scunthorpe and I always parked at Flouch or Doncaster but my mate took his to the yard one night and there was hell to pay.Until 1970 if you had loaded on a saturday morning in South Wales for Northwich,E.Port or Whitehaven etc. you had to park the wagon in Lichfield and get the train home,no running into Sheffield.Anyway a leaking load of toluene on the town centre lorry park soon sorted that.
This is not to say I didn’t have nights out,there were always plenty of them,sometimes even being weekended.Unit at Scotch Corner,trailer at Smith and Robinsons yard in Stockton.A lift home saturday afternoon,all sunday off and back on the log book monday = two nights out,guaranteed 8 hours sunday.No wonder they tried to get you home before the old hours were up!
Woodside was John Foreman’s other depot wasn’t it?
hiya,
Yes Chris Sheffield is a great spot to fiddle to and from, just need to take a look on the map to see that so if i ever take up lorry driving again you can sell me the info book where the houses are where the jobs are oh yeh and the loose women “could’nt shift my old lady” the good pubs as well, never did much round that area though been many times, when on for Bayfords of Leeds used to take a couple of tanker loads of “polished water” into Blackburn Meadows power station from other power stations in the Yorks area the B M source having dried up, that was a canny job for someone who liked routine a bit too boring for me, the power station is long closed and mainly demolished but i passed there a little while back and the cooling towers are still standing suppose they’re a bit near the M1 to blast them down, the pub that was just when you came out of B M and just before the M1 is pulled down used to have a liquid supper in there every night after the first load had been pumped in.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry, Do you remember Ron’s cafe on the dead end street just of Junction 34 M1 it was at the side of the Plumpers Pub, you pulled up you smell the bacon you smell the sh*t beds & you could see the twin towers, well the cafe is still there but they blew up the towers last year.some were 
some were
Harry the cooling towers land mark by the Tinsley viaduct have now gone. It looks hellish odd now. Wouldn’t mind £ everytime I’ve been past there top or bottom level.The bottom level was best it ment I was going to the cafe nr Sid Harrisons. Or even the one one the corner of the dead end st, plum st i think can’t remember any of the cafe names someone HELP.
John
3300John:
Harry the cooling towers land mark by the Tinsley viaduct have now gone. It looks hellish odd now. Wouldn’t mind £ everytime I’ve been past there top or bottom level.The bottom level was best it ment I was going to the cafe nr Sid Harrisons. Or even the one one the corner of the dead end st, plum st i think can’t remember any of the cafe names someone HELP.
John
John Can’t help with the names, but the one just off the roundabout was a lorry drivers heaven, steak pudding chips peas and gravy to die for.
By the way a friend of mine was invited to visit Harrison’s yard a few weeks ago, I told him to take a camera along, if I can prise the pictures off him I will post them.
regards Big Al
Hi Harry,
That cafe (and I can’t remember it’s name either) was a regular calling place opposite Sids yard for me and plenty of others too.I never once used the one near the Plumpers boozer and me being a dee-dah (Sheffielder) as well 
.
They had been on about seeing those cooling towers off for years.I do remember that a pair of Peregrine Falcons took up residence in them and were to be seen regularly over the filter beds across the M1 hunting for small birds.A mate of mine reckoned that one of the local ministry men was up there too “silent checking” - well it teks allsorts.
hiya,
Coca cola kid was Rons cafe on Asling road, never used it but must have passed it when going into the power station but i did give the boozer a good coat of looking at the landlady had a nice daughter and i was single again, sometimes you had to wait a couple of hours to tip if the tanks was full so you had to go to the pub to kill time, thats my excuse and i’m sticking to it.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry, Its on the dead end steet still named Shepcote Lane as it was the main road before they built the motorway & roundabout, or driving north if you looked down on it, it had CAFE wrote on the roof in big white letters. Cheers Mel
hiya,
Mel i know where you are had it on Google never used it though, have travelled into Sheffield on the road but when going into the power station the only way in was along the Meadowhall and i turned off that after about a quarter of a mile and back under the motorway on Asling Rd the pub i mentioned was back out of Asling Rd turn right on Meadowhall fifty or so yards was the pub the motorway was only a little way further on, the pub now gone the road layout all changed.
thanks harry long retired.
When we used to deliver lager near to sheff united, we used to go to a cafe that served a good breakfast, but the name is missing, but two nice ladies used to work there.