County: Greater London Date opened: 1969 Opened 1969 Operator Welcome Break | Previous name(s): Scratchwood Services Website: Welcome Break Road M1 motorway | |
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Similar Newport Pagnell services, Leicester Forest East services, Toddington services, Trowell services, Charnock Richard Services | ||
London Gateway services is the southern-most motorway service station on the M1 motorway, located between Junctions 2 and 4 north of London, England.
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It opened in 1969, being run by Forte, and was opened as Scratchwood services. It is built adjacent to the site of the proposed junction 3 of the M1 with a spur to the A1. This link was never built and the intended roundabout junction was not completed, instead being adapted to provide access to the service area. However traffic therefore travels the "wrong way" around the junction, with some sharp turns on the slip roads.
On 6 September 1997, large numbers of people came to the service station to witness the passing of the funeral hearse of Diana, Princess of Wales on its way along the M1 from central London to her burial place in Althorp, Northamptonshire.
A reserved section of current service area is a major long-distance coach service interchange.
The guns in both forward turrets on the museum ship HMS Belfast, moored between Tower Bridge and London Bridge some 11.7 miles away in the centre of London, are trained and elevated on the London Gateway Motorway Services Area.