Darrington services
A1 southbound between Doncaster and Pontefract
Signposted from the road.
WF8 3HU
map and directions
Single site located between junctions on one side of the road..
A small service station on an old and busy section of the A1.
Facilities
Catering: Template:Website Amenities: Showers Forecourt: BP, Applegreen, Costa Express, f'real Milkshakes, Rollover, Air1 AdBlue, Free Cash Machine
Parking Prices
Short stay customer parking is available for cars.
Overnight parking is available at £15 per 12 hours or £18 per 24 hours.
Prices are paid using SNAP.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
A1 Southbound
Great North Road
Darrington
Pontefract
West Yorkshire
WF8 3HU
Trivia and History
The garage also provides access to a small lane called West Park Drive. This lane used to provide access between the Great North Road (now the A1) and Stapleton Hall, a stately home built in the early 18th Century and demolished in the 1950s. There was a wide entrance and a gateway lodge, as many of these buildings had, called West Lodge. This would have been outside the entrance to what's now Busy Bee's Diner.
In the 1960s the lodge was demolished and the A1 was upgraded. A petrol station called the Wayside Garage was built, and a café called Wayside Cafe. That café was built behind another house, which looked not unlike others which had been built along West Park Drive, but by the old entrance are two grand pillars. The two buildings later merged, and throughout the 2000s the roof of the old café appears to have continually deteriorated and has now been removed entirely. The café went on to be named Waywest Cafe, and then Busy Bee's Diner.
In 1974, 1980 and 1988, there were attempts to add a northbound filling station opposite this one however all three of these plans were refused.
In 2002 and again in 2008, there was a plan to demolish the café building and replace it with houses.
In 2011, the petrol station was expanded and a building to the side of it, used by A1 Recovery, was demolished. An eXpress store became Londis, which is now an Applegreen store. The petrol station is the main service station facility, with the café just being a neighbouring facility.
Welcome Break Expansion
In November 2018 Applegreen purchased a significant stake of Welcome Break. One of the trade-offs of the purchase was that Darrington would eventually be re-branded Welcome Break, and adjusted to reflect the rest of their estate.
While no changes had taken place on the ground (and Welcome Break stated that Applegreen still operate the site), in December 2021 Welcome Break announced plans to demolish the existing forecourt and replace it with a whole new service area.
A large forecourt shop would be provided, with a drive thru window, food brands, toilets and showers. A separate drive thru Starbucks would be provided, bringing it in line with the usual Welcome Break offer. There would be parking spaces for 138 cars, 10 electric vehicle charging bays, 58 HGVs, 5 coaches and an abnormal load bay.
Perhaps the biggest improvement would be to the slip roads, which would be significantly extended. The existing arrangement is described as "unsafe". West Park Drive residents would be able to exit through the service area, and space would be left for an additional road to be built to the east. The pedestrian footbridge would be removed.
The expansion would take place mainly to the south and the east, leaving the Busy Bee's Diner alone. The investment comes despite vague plans from National Highways to upgrade the A1. This could go either way - either rendering the new service area redundant, or bringing it even more traffic.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| Barnsdale Bar (3 miles) | Services on the A1 | Ferrybridge (2 miles) |
| Cromwell (northbound, 43 miles) North Muskham (southbound, 44 miles) | Applegreen services | none nearby |