The contract was awarded to Ross in January 1963, to cost £500,000 and to open November 1964.

The motorway division of Trust Houses Forte Catering had always been headquartered at Newport Pagnell since 1959.

[8][9] It contains a number of shops and fast food outlets straddling the motorway.

There is no legal vehicular access to the motorway service station from nearby Leicester Forest East, although there is nothing physically stopping cars from exiting to the A47.

Leicester Forest East services faced permanent closure in 2017[10] if the M1/M69 junction had been developed to increase capacity to accommodate predicted traffic growth.