Donington Park services

Donington Park services
Donington Park Services
{{{image_alt}}}
The main building
County Leicestershire
Road M1
Coordinates 52°49′25″N 1°18′21″W / 52.823651°N 1.305887°W / 52.823651; -1.305887Coordinates: 52°49′25″N 1°18′21″W / 52.823651°N 1.305887°W / 52.823651; -1.305887
Operator Moto Hospitality
Previous operator(s) Granada
Date opened 1999
Website Moto
Donington Park services is located in Leicestershire
{{{alt}}}
Donington Park services (Leicestershire)

Donington Park services is a motorway service station off the M1 motorway, A453 and A42 interchange (junction 23a) near Kegworth, England.

Contents

Characteristics

It is owned by Moto and offers 20% discounts to all RAC members. The site also has the world's smallest branch of Marks and Spencer Simply Food.

It shares its name with Donington Park, a racing circuit, which is also next to East Midlands Airport - the former RAF Castle Donington. It is situated in the parish of Long Whatton and Diseworth, and the religious parish of St Michaels & All Angels, Diseworth.

History

It opened on 8 July 1999, being originally owned by Granada, which became Moto in 2001. It was one of the first to offer a whole set of non-food shops, similar to an airport, which now has been adopted as standard. The neighbouring airport has far fewer landside facilities for those awaiting arrivals (before check-in).

Radio 1

On 25 April 2008 Greg James presented the BBC Radio 1 Early Morning Breakfast Show live from Donington Park Services.[1]

Newsnight

As an integral part of Newsnight's 2010 General Election coverage, it set up home in the Travelodge, and interviewed workers on-site in the run-up to the election from 7 April, to gauge public opinion. The correspondent on-site was named Motorway Man.[2] It is thought by psephologists that 'swing voters' habituate such service stations, and many live nearby - North West Leicestershire, the home seat is a marginal seat. In previous elections, such voters were labelled Mondeo Man. The idea received a very negative critical response. One example is Grace Dent's scathing summary:

'No one cares about Motorway Man, the mythical creature that election strategists are claiming will swing the result, eg the Brit take on the US election's Joe The Plumber. "I'm living at Donington Park services on the M1 for a month," Newsnight's reporter Stephen Smith told us sadly in early-April, "I'll be interviewing Motorway Man!" Cue: thrice-weekly updates from inarticulate apolitical muggles sitting on motorway service benches. Call me old-fashioned but I want my pundits to be cleverer than me.'[3]

Download Festival

In early June every year the service station becomes a popular location for people from all over Europe attending the Download Festival to stop for a traditional "last supper" and to use the facilities before entering the festival site and suffering for up to 5 nights of no showers and porta-potties. It is also often the first stop on their exit from the festival for their first hot meal.

Interior
Interior from upper floor

Facilities

References

External links

Video clips

Previous:
Leicester Forest East
Motorway service stations on the
M1 Motorway
Next:
Trowell

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • List of Donington Park Festivals — Since 1980 when rock music was revived in Britain by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal,Fact|date=March 2007 Donington Park has played host to many music festivals. The venue, located near Donington Castle in central England has built itself a… …   Wikipedia

  • Donington on Bain railway station — Donington Donington railway station in 2004 Location Place …   Wikipedia

  • Cherwell Valley services — The former main building County Oxfordshire Road M40 Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Doncaster North services — The main building County South Yorkshire Road M18, M180 Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Chieveley services — County Berkshire Road M4 Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Medway services — The southbound services County Kent Road M2 Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Corley services — County Warwickshire Road M6 Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Charnock Richard services — The main building County Lancashire Road M6 Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Michaelwood services — County Gloucestershire Road M5 Motorway Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Newport Pagnell services — County Buckinghamshire Road M1 Coordinates …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”