The Pennine Tower at Forton Services was once the tallest motorway restaurant in Britain and was a popular stop for drivers heading north – but now it’s completely abandoned
The spooky ‘Star Wars’ tower on the M6 – now completely abandoned – is a familiar sight for drivers heading north, especially towards the Lake District.
This unique building, known as Forton Services, was built in 1965 next to a new 13.5-mile stretch of the M6 connecting Lancaster and Preston. The most eye-catching part of the services is the Pennine Tower. This cool, hexagonal building stands 90ft tall above the motorway and was meant to be a posh restaurant for hungry travellers.
Built by the Top Rank organisation, it looked like a UFO and offered amazing views of Morecambe Bay and the fells. It even had a viewing platform. When it first opened, the 150-seat Pennine Tower was the tallest motorway restaurant in Britain. This service station was one of the first to be built after the creation of Britain’s motorway network in the late 1950s.
It was part of a big plan to make travel across Britain better for the growing number of car owners. Like many older service stations, Forton Services has a covered bridge that lets people use facilities on both the northbound and southbound sides. It also has two self-service cafeterias, baby changing facilities, and showers for lorry drivers. But the most exciting part was definitely the Pennine Tower restaurant. It had waitress service and amazing views across Lancashire, reports Coventry Live.
The first menu in 1965 showed how ambitious the restaurant was, serving grilled rainbow trout, fillet steaks, lobster, and local dishes like Lancashire Hot Pot and Morecambe Bay potted shrimps. There are some fun stories that after the tower opened, some people thought it was a real UFO, especially when it was lit up at night – but there’s no real proof of this. In an archive of the now offline Forton Services website, memories of a former Pennine Tower waitress, Noreen Blackburn, are shared.
Noreen remembered leaving school in 1966 and going to work in the service’s separate cafeteria, filling shelves with sandwiches and cakes. “As I was eager to learn, my next job was serving tea and coffee tea was made in a huge teapot and poured as necessary coaches made the place very busy. The phrase used was the ‘tea and pee brigade’.”
She continued: “However, my greatest wish was to be a waitress in the ‘tower’ and I really pushed the catering manager to consider me. The uniform was so chic in a shade of mid-green with a pencil slim skirt which had to be just above knee level, a white blouse, a waistcoat with shiny chrome buttons and a Top Rank emblem embroidered on it.
“It was a joy when I donned that uniform and headed up to the tower on my first day! “Despite having big dreams, the restaurant didn’t win over everyone. Egon Ronay, a well-known food critic, described the food as “an insult to one’s taste buds” in 1978, according to the Motorway Services Online website. He said the food at the services was ‘appalling’.
The idea of a posh restaurant at a motorway stop didn’t last long. The tower later turned into a trucker’s lounge before it closed its doors to the public in 1989. Top Rank first sold the services to Pavilion, who then handed it over to Granada. Now, Moto owns the site and it still serves hungry drivers under the name Lancaster Services.
After its time as a restaurant, the famous building was used as offices and storage for a few years before it closed down for good. In 2012, the tower was given Grade II listed status. According to the Historic England website, Forton showed a new type of architecture that was perfect for the new look of the motorway. The Pennine Tower Restaurant acted as a beacon to attract passing drivers and as a fancy viewpoint.
From the tower, they could marvel at the stunning views of the motorway below and the vast countryside surrounding them. Historic England has named the Pennine Tower as one of eight buildings that reflect how the 1960s space race, culminating in the moon landing in 1969, shaped architecture.
They discuss the Forton services on their blog, dubbing it ‘Space-age architecture’ and likening it to a “Star Wars ship next to a motorway”. While the Forton services remain open, sadly, you can no longer ascend the tower. Photos from roughly a decade ago on Motorway Service Online reveal that the interior isn’t as impressive as it once was.
However, many people hold fond memories of the old tower and consider it quite special. On the SABRE roads forum, a platform for road enthusiasts, users have been reminiscing about their experiences. A user by the name of mikehindsonevans shared: “Viewed through the prism of a child’s eyes in the 1960s, Forton was fantastic to a Gerry Anderson fan with imagination. Forton was the point where the holiday in the Lakes began.”
Another user, M19, commented: “Forton is a significant piece of roadside history,” and added: “The landmark isn’t used which must be disappointing for those of us who would be keen to experience it.”
Read the full article here
