Red Lion truckstop
NN7 4DE
map and directions
Single site located at the side of the road.
The Red Lion Truckstop is a large pub with lorry parking signposted from the A4500, positioned close to M1 J16.
Access is available in both directions and cars can park outside the entrance.
Facilities
Catering: Restaurant, Bar Shops: Shop Amenities: Free Cash Machine, Gaming Machines, Launderette, Meeting Room, Showers, Truck Wash Outdoor Space: Busy truckstop with no grass space Forecourt: Fuel, LPG
Parking Prices
First two hours free for all vehicles after which HGVs must pay £1 per hour for stays up to 8 hours.
Overnight parking is available for £26, or £30 which includes a £12 meal voucher.
Prices are paid in the bar, and can be paid with GBP, EUR or fuel cards.
HGVs can also pay by using SNAP. The location code is 5047.
This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.
Contact Details
🏢 Address:
Red Lion
Weedon Road
Upper Heyford
Northampton
Northamptonshire
NN7 4DE
- Official Red Lion Truckstop website
- Official Certas Energy website
- Facebook Page
- 📞 Telephone number: 01604 831914
- 📌 what3words: ///argue.products.journals
- more map options
Trivia and Design
The amenity building here is an old inn positioned on what used to be the main A45, but this was bypassed by the new dual carriageway and renumbered.
Access used to be provided by a gap in the dual carriageway, and some visitors would park on the section of old road. The road layout was all changed in 2021, with a new roundabout provided, and the old road made much narrower. A lot of trees and undergrowth were removed during this work, making the building clearly visible from the main road once again. With new commercial units built next door around the same time, the area has been transformed to suddenly looking very industrial, making the historic inn in the middle stand out even more.
A Commercial Motor poll crowned Red Lion the best truckstop in Europe in April 2024. This led to widespread media coverage including claims that car drivers were heading out of their way to sample the curry and burgers here.
History
The Red Lion pub became an official truckstop in the early 1980s when land around the back of the pub was dedicated for parking. The truckstop went onto gain restaurant facilities in the pub as well as a games room and diesel bunkering facilities in the lorry park during the 1980s.
Norfolk House, the owners of Kelly's Kitchen, proposed to add a filling station, restaurant and hotel to the west of the Red Lion in 1989. They received planning permission, but they were never built.
The Red Lion came under threat in 1999 when planning permission was granted for a hotel with leisure facilities to replace the pub. These plans were renewed in 2003 but the pub remained.
Fuel facilities were later removed from the site in the 2000s before the site gained a new, full-size, Certas Energy-operated HGV refuelling bunker in September 2019. As part of this work, a hard surface was provided for the parking area. This, plus the refurbished approach road, has completely changed the appearance of the area.
A truck wash, provided by Northampton-based RJ Hawkins, opened here on 14 November 2022.
Alternatives
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