The McDonald's was part of a 1995 Welcome Break campaign to roll out franchises throughout its chain, but when Welcome Break's parent company was taken over by Granada, the latter's rival franchise of Burger King was instead introduced throughout the chain, but Fleet services (and Woodall), part of the original plan, continued to carry McDonald's despite this.

[5] Fleet services were well known for the 'Fleet cheat',[citation needed] in which drivers took a back exit to the northbound side, which is meant for access by authorised vehicles only (as indicated by two no-entry signs with the aforementioned exception information underneath it),[6] from Pale Lane in order to avoid traffic queues from the motorway.

[8][9] A large fire broke out at the southbound site, caused by a faulty coffee machine in KFC on the evening of 14 December 2016, damaging at least 60% of the building but not resulting in any human injuries.

[10][11] A customer on site at the time the fire broke out said it appeared to have started in a coffee machine and that staff reacted slowly.

The rebuilt services building[13] opened on 6 September 2018 and included Burger King, KFC, Pizza Express, Tossed, Harry Ramsdens, WHSmith and Little Waitrose.

Additionally a number of Tesla and Ecotricity charging stations have been installed in the car parking area.