Blyth services
A1(M) at J34
(also accessible to traffic on the A1, A614 and the B6045)
Signposted from the road.
S81 8HG
map and directions
Single site located at a junction.
A small service area at the bottom of the Doncaster Bypass, or top of the Blyth Bypass if you prefer. It's no longer accessed directly from the A1, but from the new interchange next to it.
Facilities
Catering: Burger King, Costa Coffee, Greggs, Costa Express, Krispy Kreme Shops: M&S Simply Food, WHSmith Amenities: Travelodge, &Play, Changing Places, Full Hou$e, Showers Outdoor Space: Grass space behind hotel Charging Points: GRIDSERVE Electric Highway HPC 350kW CCS, 100kW CHAdeMO & 22kW Type 2; Tesla Supercharger 250kW CCS Forecourt: Esso, ASDA Express, Rollover, Starbucks on the Go, Jet Wash, Free Cash Machine
Parking Prices
First 2 hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £15 and HGVs, caravans and motorhomes £29. HGVs can pay £32 to include a £10 food voucher.
Prices are paid in the shop or by using JustPark. The location code is 625118.
HGVs can also pay by using SNAP. The location code is 13466.
The fees are strictly enforced by GroupNexus.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
Bawtry Road
Blyth
Worksop
Nottinghamshire
S81 8HG
- Amenity building operated by Moto
- Hotel operated by Travelodge
- Forecourt operated by Asda
- Foursquare Page
- 📞 Telephone number: 01909 591841
- 📌 what3words: ///tooth.lucky.lunching
- more map options
Trivia and History
The Country Kitchen restaurant, pictured in 1990.
This service area was privately developed by Granada and Esso as an A-road service area. This made it an easy way to increase their presence without needing to tackle all the regulations that come with building a new motorway site. It was positioned two miles north of a small service area owned by their arch-rival, Forte. Blyth was planned quickly, and opened in early 1988.
The 16 acres of land had previously been identified for use as a shopping centre.
As a result of its small scale, Blyth was designed using Granada's standard back-up design with a cross shape building. This turned out to become much busier than expected, so when Burger King was added it was placed in the very middle of the building, rather than interrupting the small restaurant area.
The restaurant and coffee area followed Granada and then Moto's brand names changes, becoming EDC and Caffè Ritazza. An "EDC Express" van would be parked outside to manage queues. The restaurants then became Costa, Greggs and a shared seating area.
A 2011 extension saw the site gain a M&S Simply Food store and lose the large restaurant windows. An outdoor children's play area was also removed.
Moto added a Changing Places facility here in its own pre-fabricated extension to the main building in early 2023.
Forecourt
As a result of the original partnership, the forecourt was operated directly by Esso, who fitted it with a Snack & Shop store and Coffee Nation offering.
It was sold to Euro Garages in 2015, who then rebranded the store to SPAR, added a Starbucks on the Go machine and a Subway offering. The Subway unit closed in late 2020 but, despite the closure, the unit remained fully furnished for some time after. The store was later redesigned in 2022, removing the Subway unit and adding a new Rollover hot food offering
The store rebranded again in April 2023, this time to ASDA On the Move, before being handed over to Asda and rebranding to Asda Express in December 2023.
Junction Changes
When it was built, Blyth was accessed from the main southbound carriageway of the A1. The Hilltop Roundabout allowed northbound traffic to turn around, access the service area, and then all traffic followed the exit back to the A614.
Despite it technically being on the A1 and seemingly not going through the motorway service area system, at some point the Department of Transport decided that motorway service area signs could be placed on the A1(M), which were measured as if the roundabout wasn't there.
The roundabout was replaced with a flyover in 2008. As a result of the new alignment, the direct access from the A1 was removed and the existing exit road was made two-way. The old entry to the HGV parking area was turned into a turning circle. It was some time before all the internal signage was updated, with some signs even remaining along the old road after it had been removed and grassed over.
Even stranger decisions were made on the main road itself. Contrary to the official signage policy, the Highways Agency decided that the A1 northbound would have new signs calling it an A-road service area, while the A1(M) southbound would keep its old signs that called it a motorway service area. This was despite the fact that the signs referred to an exit which was now closed and as a result were all half a mile too late. The incorrect measurements were then repeated on two brand new signs which were installed in 2015. Highways England eventually covered up one of the new signs in 2021, but the other is still wrong and all the information is still provided much later than it should be.
Moving the entrance and the resultant tree planting left Blyth with a lot of green space. The old roadway was then turned into an overflow car park in around 2013, and was redeveloped into a large electric vehicle charging hub in early 2023 featuring twelve GRIDSERVE high-powered chargers and twelve Tesla Superchargers.
Rival Facilities
Some people remember the Hilltop Roundabout for the Hilltop Café, which was positioned opposite where Blyth services was built. It had a long, glass dining room and a small, American-style tower in the middle. It was ran by Blue Star and had direct access from the A1 northbound. The café closed in late 1985.
EG Group opened a KFC Drive Thru and Starbucks Drive Thru on the other side of the Hilltop Roundabout in June 2019. These facilities are not signposted from any main road but still act as competitors to the signed Moto facilities. Planning permission was also granted for a McDonald's restaurant and two other units, planned to be occupied by Cinnabon and Sbarro, to be built next to the EG facilities. Work started in early 2023.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| Markham Moor (11 miles) | Services on the A1(M) & A1 | Carcroft (northbound, 16 miles) Barnsdale Bar (19 miles) Doncaster (North) (M18, 19 miles) |
| Grantham North (38 miles) | Moto services | Ferrybridge (24 miles) Doncaster (North) (M18, 19 miles) |
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