Customer seating for the bridge based food court at Knutsford, sitting directly above the M6. The bridge area of Knutsford has changed significantly since opening in 1963, & sadly these days appears much less luxurious. Moto’s lack of investment in Knutsford is clear by the state of this seating area, which desperately needs a revamp. Seating is old, worn & leftover from when there was a large Costa up here. Surely when Moto open the new Pret, they will replace the seating and tidy up this seating area. Opposite this seating is a walkway, with large windows looking out to the M6. It’s an impressive view which Top Rank based the building’s design off, just a shame the seating isn’t situated close to these windows & this view isn’t visible whilst seated. This design of motorway services with buffet style restaurants on the footbridge was brought about in 1963, when motorway services were a brand new concept, and only few British motorway services are designed like this, including: Knutsford, Leicester Forest East, Keele, Charnock Richard and Medway. Knutsford and Medway were both built by Top Rank, who have various buildings across the network with intricate designs & unique features, such as the 1965 Pennine tower at Lancaster. Back in the 60s, Knutsford’s bridge would’ve been one large dining restaurant with a more luxurious seating area (as driving was seen as more of a luxury in the 1960s) & carpeted flooring. Sadly 60 years on, the footbridge has been turned into several high street franchises and a basic, tired looking seating area. Currently, this seating is occupied by Greggs and KFC, but will be available for customers of Pret when it opens. Overall, despite looking worn out and dated, I like this rare design of Knutsford, with 3 separate seating areas and a bridge with food brands on it. When Pret A Manger opens, it will help bring more trade up to this food court as it’s a recognisable brand which customers may stop at Knutsford for alone. Pret replaced a large Costa lounge, which suffered low custom levels, leaving just two smaller Costa stores in the Northbound and Southbound lower level extensions. Pret, so far, has proven to be a successful brand for Moto, increasing their sales by 25% wherever they are installed. With this information, hopefully money is generated at Knutsford by this new Pret to invest in further refurbishments around the site. This customer seating was moderately busy. It was almost entirely full, but due to refurbishment works there wasn’t much seating available up here during my visit. The seating was quite messy, with lots of litter left from customers. When it opens, I’m sure Moto will be advertising Pret quite a bit around the site, however, it’s likely they won’t signpost Pret from the signage on the M6 (in both directions) as the motorway signs were refreshed recently to include KFC as well as Motos new corporate branding, so there’s no spare space on the signposts to advertise Pret.

Photo taken on 10/02/2024 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Knutsford, Pret, M6 (England), Moto