Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Moto Hospitality

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Industry
  
Hospitality

Website
  
www.moto-way.com

Founded
  
2001

Type of business
  
Private

Owner
  
Private investors

Revenue
  
1.101 million GBP (2015)

Number of employees
  
6,000

Predecessor
  
Granada plc

Moto Hospitality httpswwwtravelodgecouksitesdefaultfilesM

Area served
  
United Kingdom except Northern Ireland

Key people
  
Tim Moss (CEO)Robert Prynn (CFO)Brian Lotts (Chief Operating Officer)Sir Gerry Robinson (Chairman)

Headquarters
  
Toddington, United Kingdom

Moto Hospitality is a company which operates 58 motorway service stations across the United Kingdom. It's currently the UKs biggest service area operator.

Contents

Moto is owned by USS whom bought it from Macquarie. Macquarie Bank managed Moto between when Compass Group sold off SSP in April 2006 for £1,822 million and late 2015. As they have new owners and to keep up with their rivals, Moto is currently refurbishing sites with new restaurants.

History

Granada, who owned the chain of Granada motorway service stations, merged with Compass in July 2000, to form Granada Compass plc. The plan was to combine the hospitality interests of the two businesses and hive off the media division, which was done by demerging the new group into Compass plc and Granada Media in 2001. Granada had previously acquired Forte plc in a £3.3bn hostile takeover on 24 January 1996. It sold its French Cote France service stations to Italy's Autogrill in December 1997. The food and hospitality division of Granada was retained by Compass, which became its Select Service Partner (SSP) UK division, but ownership of the Granada brand and trademark passed to the new media company. The Granada name was retained on the service stations until 23 May 2001, when the 47 sites were rebranded as Moto. In 2006, Moto separated from Compass Group and SSP following successful acquisition by a consortium of investors and underwent a period of intensive expansion through investment in new brands and offers.

Other operations

Moto operates various franchise outlets at Extra MSA locations. These include M&S Simply Food, Costa Coffee and Greggs.

WHSmith

WHSmith stores are located at all Moto services.

Hotels

Most Moto locations have hotels:

  • Travelodge operate at 56 Moto sites.
  • Days Inn are at 2 Moto sites: Wetherby and Winchester. Winchester Days Inn was opened by Moto but is operated by Welcome Break.

    • Catering

  • Burger King is at all Moto Service Stations except Todhills.
  • Costa Coffee operate at all Moto service areas.
  • EDC (Eat and Drink Co.), Moto's self branded restaurant, is at most Moto locations.
  • Greggs is at 27 Moto service stations. Moto also operates Greggs at four Extra motorway services as well.
  • West Cornwall Pasty Co now operates where all Upper Crusts used to be, except for Cherwell Valley, Wetherby and Reading Eastbound. Wetherby is unique as it has both an Upper Crust and a West Cornwall Pasty Co.
  • M&S Foodhalls are at many Moto locations.
  • Krispy Kreme operate stalls at most Moto locations.
  • Arlo's is an own-brand successor to EDC currently being trialled at the Reading Services on the M4.

    • Barber Shop

    The Barber Shop at Toddington and Leigh Delamere has closed, leaving only one site at Lymm.

    Betting arcades

    In 1995, Granada thought that betting arcades would be useful at motorway services:

  • Ladbrokes was the first brand used.
  • Lucky Coin are Moto's own brand betting arcades. They appear at most sites.
  • Full Hou$e are another Moto brand betting arcade. They are not at a lot of locations.

    • Fone Bitz

    Fone Bitz operate at selected Moto sites.

    Petrol stations

    The petrol stations at Moto sites are variously Esso or BP.

    Awards

    Moto have won awards for the standards of cleanliness in their public toilets, winning the 'Loo of the Year Award' back in 2006 (for the fourth year running).

    The competition judges visited more than 1,000 public toilets all over Britain, scrutinising cleanliness, overall management, signage, accessibility, décor and the standard of fixtures and fittings.

    Innovations

    Moto have recently opened Britain's first carbon-neutral service station on the A1(M) at Kirk Deighton near Wetherby, lying across the border line between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire; they have also purchased Winchester Services from Roadchef for conversion to carbon neutral operation. The upgrade will include recharging points for hybrid cars, a wind turbine, energy-saving measures within the station itself and several innovative solutions that will be employed on a trial basis. These include a methane capturing system in the septic tank that will allow gas to be recycled into the food production areas, and a commitment towards the reuse of energy currently wasted in the disposal systems of the station.

    Other Moto stations shall soon feature play areas designed in collaboration with Tate Prize nominee Kolya Alyar who is famous for his work in bringing attention to the plight of the Mountain Jews of Dagestan, themed around various biblical chapters, including but not limited to Exodus and Leviticus.

    Locations

    Birch Eastbound Junction 18/19 (M62)

    Birch Westbound Junction 18/19 (M62)

    Blyth Junction A1(M) (A614)

    Bridgwater Junction 24 (M5)

    Burton-in-Kendal Northbound Junction 35/36 (M6)

    Cardiff West Junction 33 (M4)

    Cherwell Valley Junction 10 (M40)

    Chieveley Junction 13 (M4/A34)

    Doncaster North Junction 5 (M18/M180)

    Donington Park Junction 23A (M1/A42/A453)

    Dover Port Dover Eastern Docks

    Exeter Junction 30 (M5)

    Ferrybridge Junction 33 (M62/A1)

    Frankley Northbound Junction 3/4 (M5)

    Frankley Southbound Junction 3/4 (M5)

    Grantham North A1 Trunk Road

    Grantham South A1 Colsterworth

    Heston Eastbound Junction 2/3 (M4)

    Heston Westbound Junction 2/3 (M4)

    Hilton Park Northbound Junction 10A/11 (M6)

    Hilton Park Southbound Junction 10a/11 (M6)

    Kinross Junction 6 (M90)

    Knutsford Northbound Junction 18/19 (M6)

    Knutsford Southbound Junction 18/19 (M6)

    Lancaster Northbound Junction 32/33 (M6)

    Lancaster Southbound Junction 32/33 (M6)

    Leeming Bar A1

    Leigh Delamere Eastbound Junction 17/18 (M4)

    Leigh Delamere Westbound Junction 17/18 (M4)

    Markfield Junction 22 (M1)

    Musselburgh (A1)

    Medway Eastbound Junction 4/5 (M2)

    Medway Westbound Junction 4/5 (M2)

    Pease Pottage (M23/A23)

    Reading Eastbound Junction 11/12 (M4)

    Reading Westbound Junction 11/12 (M4)

    Saltash Carkeel Roundabout, Saltash

    Scotch Corner (A1/A66)

    Severn View Junction 1 (M48)

    Southwaite Northbound Junction 41/42 (M6)

    Southwaite Southbound Junction 41/42 (M6)

    Stafford Northbound Junction 14/15 (M6)

    Stirling Junction 9 M9/M80

    Swansea Junction 47 (M4)

    Tamworth Junction 10 (M42/A5)

    Thurrock Junction 30/31 (M25)

    Tiverton Junction 27 (M5)

    Toddington Northbound Junction 11/12 (M1)

    Toddington Southbound Junction 11/12 (M1)

    Todhills Northbound Junction 44 M6

    Todhills Southbound Junction 44 M6

    Trowell Northbound Junction 25/26 (M1)

    Trowell Southbound Junction 25/26 (M1)

    Warminster A36 Bypass

    Washington Northbound Junction 64 A1(M)

    Washington Southbound Junction 64 A1(M)

    Wetherby Junction 46 A1(M)

    Winchester Northbound Junction 8/9 (M3)

    Winchester Southbound Junction 8/9 (M3)

    Woolley Edge Northbound Junction 38/39 (M1)

    Woolley Edge Southbound Junction 38/39 (M1)

    References

    Moto Hospitality Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA