Dr David Lawrence

Burton Wood, Hartshead Moor, Woolly Edge, Membury, Lee Delamere, Taunton Dean, Birch Hanger, Pease Pottage.

which is a very good name.

It sounds like a service station and a meal.

I'm Dr David Lawrence.

I'm an associate professor at Kingston University London and I've spent much of my adult life researching motorway service areas, visiting them, staying at them and generally immersing myself in the wonderful world of motorway services.

Service stations were created by the government simply to stop people crashing their cars.

People crashing because they were hungry or they needed the toilet.

That's the only reason the government wanted service stations back in the late 1950s.

And they had no recognisable brands.

Everything was slightly out of place.

And to me, they were, I suppose, bits of town dumped down in the country.

What food was on offer?

It was transport cafe food with a bit more glamour.

So essentially fried English food, tea, coffee.

Some places had zero alcohol beer, even in the early 1960s.

And as the industry began to realise that it had a totally captive audience, and that's really important to remember for the future of motorway service stations, this captive audience could be served anything, really.

In some places, very simple food and some sandwiches were provided.

And other service area operators, for example, at Leicester Forest East,

owned fishing fleets and would bring fresh fish, fresh seafood to the service station every day.

And people could dine in banquet style and eat very beautiful, very delicious food.