[2] The name comes from the nearby Watford Gap, the narrowest and lowest point in the limestone ridge that crosses England diagonally from the Cotswolds to Lincoln Edge.

[3] In Roman Britain, Iter II, later named Watling Street,[4] crossed the gap; Thomas Telford considered the route unsuitable for coach traffic due to the presence of quicksand.

Similarly, the Grand Union Canal (which runs immediately behind the northbound vehicle park) avoided the gap by the Crick Tunnel.

[7] Roadchef have suggested that the services' name should be included in the Oxford English Dictionary as an expression of the divide between the north and south.

[16] The restaurant opened in September 1960, but the Ministry were unhappy about the services' reputation as a truck-stop, dating back to Blue Boar's popularity with HGV drivers.

They consequently redesigned the restaurant in 1964 to accommodate a waitress service, which they hoped would "lose at least some of the stigma of having been started in 1959 as primarily a commercial driver's facility".

[17] Food was criticised for being expensive, though Scottish Unionist MP Tam Galbraith disputed this, noting he could buy steak and kidney pie with chips, buttered roll and a cup of tea at Watford Gap for 4s 2d[18] (£0.21, equivalent to £5.33 in 2023).

[citation needed] The quality of the food declined substantially and, because it was also in a prominent location, the services became a byword for poor catering.

[19] The owners of Watford Gap service station objected to criticism of their food, as did an EMI board member who was also a non-executive director of Blue Boar.

[20] In 1989, one journalist claimed the services had some of the worst food found on the road network, adding "if I threw the toast out of the window, it would probably still be bouncing up the M1.

[citation needed] The Beatles stopped at Watford Gap while travelling from Liverpool to gigs in the south in the early stage of their career.

[20] The services' association with 1960s musicians is remembered in a set of photographs published in 2008 of the Stones stopping at Watford Gap on the way to ATV Studios, Birmingham, in 1963.

[15] In July 2011, music journalist Peter Paphides presented Late Nights at the Blue Boar, a BBC Radio 4 documentary about the connection between the services and Britain's 1960s rock bands.