Aberford services
(former)
| Road: | A1 between Aberford and Wetherby |
| Address: | Great North Road Aberford Leeds West Yorkshire LS25 3AU |
| Opened: | 1965-1974 |
| Closed: | 1996 |
| Services type: | Two sites located between junctions, with no public connection between them |
A series of facilities have existed on the A1 at Aberford, at the Roman Ridge junction between Bramham Crossroads and the Aberford Bypass.
A forecourt was built on the northbound side called Northways in 1965, opposite the Nuthill farm. This became Nuthill self serve. A vacant premises next door was turned into one of the UK's first Roadchef restaurants in September 1973. Roadchef signed a 14-year lease on the site, and committed to opening a shop and tourist information centre by 1975. The forecourt was branded Shell at this stage, and it was signposted as an official service station.
Roadchef then expanded their development to include a restaurant on the southbound side, built next to the Nut Hill cottages. The two restaurants were promoted as a pair, known as 'Aberford services'.
The two Roadchefs were sold to Little Chef in 1979, becoming the 'Nuthill' and 'Aberford' branches.
Threatened by the upgrade to the A1, the northbound Little Chef closed on 4 August 1996, with Little Chef calling it "our old friend". It is now buried under the new A1(M). The southbound side closed shortly after, and the building survives as an industrial office.
Before the closure had happened, planning had already started for what would become Leeds Skelton Lake services on the new M1, although it would take 25 years to open. Roadchef looked at returning to the region in April 2019, with a proposed facility at A1(M) J42.
Area Map
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🗺 Grid reference: SE433390 | See GeoHack for modern layers