It’s a familiar site to anyone who regularly drives on the M6, but for the uninitiated, one building’s unusual design will have had some motorists doing a double-take. Forton Services, near Lancaster, was built to service users of the newly built 13.5 mile stretch of the M6 connecting the Lancaster bypass and Preston bypass in 1965.
But it was the northern end of the services that the most striking feature of the services was built. Towering 90ft above the motorway, Pennine Tower, with its futuristic, hexagonal design was constructed as a glamorous restaurant to entice hungry motorists.
Built by the Top Rank organisation, it resembled a UFO and commanded unrivalled views of Morecambe Bay and the fells and even had an observation platform. When it opened, the 150-seater Pennine Tower was Britain’s highest motorway restaurant.
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With the birth of Britain’s motorway network in the late 1950s, the service station was one of the earliest. It was part of an ambitious vision of revolutionising travel across Britain for the growing number of car owners.
Forton Services – like many older service stations – has an all-weather enclosed bridge which enables pedestrians to use both the northbound and southbound amenities. And alongside the stunning tower restaurant, the motorway stop-off was built with two self-service cafeterias on either side of the motorway, nappy changing facilities, and showers for lorry drivers.
But the most exciting feature was undoubtedly the Pennine Tower fine-dining restaurant, which had waitress service and unrivalled views across Lancashire. In fact, its very first menu in 1965 was an indication of the restaurant’s ambition, serving grilled rainbow trout, fillet steaks, lobster, alongside local delicacies such as Lancashire Hot Pot and Morecambe Bay potted shrimps.
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There are some fanciful tales that shortly after the tower opened, some complained that it was repeatedly mistaken for an actual UFO, especially when lit at night – but no real evidence for this has come to light.
In an archive of the now offline Forton Services website, the memories of a former Pennine Tower’s waitress, Noreen Blackburn, are recounted. Noreen remembered leaving school in 1966 and going to work in the service’s separate cafeteria, filling shelves with sandwiches and cakes.
Noreen said: “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’.”
Continuing: “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.
“There was a full time uniform mistress who altered all the clothing for new staff as they arrived. The tower waitresses’ uniforms were simply the best – as were the ladies who wore them – and I was so delighted when I donned that uniform and entered the lift to go up to the tower on my first day!”
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Despite the restaurants ambitions, it appears the food it was serving to diners wasn’t quite hitting the mark. According to the fascinating Motorway Services Online website, in 1978 acclaimed food critic, Egon Ronay, called the restaurant’s food “an insult to one’s taste buds”, rating the food at the services as ‘appalling’.
The model of a fine-dining restaurant at a motorway stop-off – no matter how unique – didn’t last and the tower was later converted to a trucker’s lounge before closing completely to the public in 1989.
Top Rank sold the services to Pavilion, who later sold it to Granada. The site is now owned by Moto and continues to accommodate hungry motorists today under the name of Lancaster Services.
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Following its time as a restaurant, the iconic building was used as offices and storage for a few years before closing completely. The tower was awarded Grade II listed status in 2012.
It’s entry on the Historic England website, states: “Forton demonstrated a new popularist architecture ideally suited to the democratic new aesthetic of the motorway, the Pennine Tower Restaurant acting both as a beacon to attract the passing motorists and as a glamorous vantage point from which they were able to enjoy spectacular prospects of the motorway below and more extensively over the miles of surrounding countryside through which they [are] passing.”
Historic England also lists the Pennine Tower as one of the eight examples of architecture influenced by the space-race of the 1960s – resulting in the moon landing in 1969. Listing the services on its blog as an example of ‘Space-age architecture’, Forton services is described as a “Star Wars ship next to a motorway”.
While Forton services is still used, the tower itself remains closed off to the public. Photos on Motorway Service Online taken about 10-years ago show how the inside of the tower has become a shadow of its former glory.
Despite being long abandoned, many have fond memories of the tower and admire its unusual architecture. On the SABRE roads forum (The Society for All British and Irish Road Enthusiasts) people have shared their memories of the Pennine Tower.
User mikehindsonevans, wrote: “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.”
M19, wrote: “Forton is a significant piece of roadside history,” adding: “The landmark isn’t used which must be disappointing for those of us who would be keen to experience it.”
While Rob590, commented: “(In the ’90s) Forton was one of the first buildings I grew to love too. From our end it was the first landmark that you were going somewhere – Preston (wow!) Blackpool, Manchester or maybe even further. It seemed impossibly huge, and to my eyes reinforced that we’d left our rural county for something bigger, modern (ha!) and better,” adding: “Would love to see it brought back into use”.
In another online blog about the iconic services, another commentator wrote: “I was born in Lancaster, and used to work in the services in the restaurant (now underneath the tower). It’s always a great symbol that I’m home when I see it coming up the M6.”
Does the Pennine Tower awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
