Service with a Smile!

Sitting happily in the passenger seat on a motorway journey this week, the windscreen wipers doing their best to obliterate the oncoming torrent, I gazed out of the window at the scenery, lampposts and signs rushing by. I was struck by the signage for motorway services which now inform drivers of extras,  ie the addition of Costa, Starbucks, M&S, Waitrose etc. Unless drivers are jiggling in their seats or passengers are crossing their legs, one has the luxury of driving the extra mile to reach the destination of choice.

My favourite service station has to be Tebay services near Penrith with its pond-side restaurant and home cooked, locally sourced food. It is the only family run service station and now has a sister site near Gloucester. NB Tebay is a real word. I am from Yorkshire and there are lots of Peter Kay jokes about t-internet. This isn't one about t'ebay!

My childhood motoring memories were of Granada Service Stations which ran from the 1960s until 2001. In the 1960s Service Stations had silver service restaurants (without alcohol) to meet the demand of more people being on the road and the introduction of the Good Food Guide. A far cry from today's fast food offerings.

Granada did, of course, diversify, providing the ITV for the North West, renting TV equipment and working with small hotel chains. 

When I was ten or so, my father bought his first brand-new car; a Ford Granada. At school that year we were learning about pie-charts and the boys carried out a survey on cars. When assessing their information and slicing up their pie, the percentage of Granada owners was deemed too small. The teacher asked us to put up our hand if we were the Granada owner. My hand went up, along with that of my friend Jane. "Ah, two owners?" the teacher quizzed, "I think we'll just put them in with the other Fords". Jane was mortified. Theirs wasn't a Ford but it was a Granada ... A Granada Rental Van!

Travelling around the country and filling up at stations was a joy as a child. There were football coins, Olympic stickers and Green Shield Stamps to be collected. My father had so many Green Shield Stamps that as he delivered his speech on my sister' wedding day, he gave her away ... With Green Shield Stamps!