Donington Park services
| Donington Park Services | |
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The main building
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 Donington Park services (Leicestershire)
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| Information | |
| County: | Leicestershire |
| Road: | M1 |
| Coordinates: | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Operator: | Moto Hospitality |
| Previous operator(s): | Granada |
| Date opened: | 1999 |
| Website: | Moto |
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, e.g. 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.
Facilities
- Marks and Spencer Simply Food
- Harvester
- Costa Coffee
- WHSmith
- Burger King
- Ladbrokes
- Travelodge
- Toilets
- Kids Play Area
- Payphones
- Cash machine
- BP Fuel
References
- The Times, 10 July 1999, page 49
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2c5b66b6-06c4-11df-b426-00144feabdc0.html Motorway Man
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Moto official website — Donington Park
- Motorway Services Online — Donington Park
- Motorway Services Trivia website — Donington Park
- Motorway Services Info — Donington Park
Video clips
| Next southbound: Leicester Forest East |
Motorway service stations on the M1 motorway |
Next northbound: Trowell |
