It is unusual, in that the facilities on the northbound (opened 1996) and southbound (1999) sides of the motorway are operated by separate companies: Moto (formerly Granada) and Roadchef respectively. They are 1 mile (1.6 km)[1] apart. In August 2011 the northbound site was rated as 4 stars, and the southbound site 3 stars, by quality assessors at Visit England.[2]
History
Prior to the construction of the station, a geophysical survey was undertaken to examine cropmarks which possibly marked the location of a ring ditch to ensure that an archaeological site was not destroyed. The ditch was not found, although medieval and post-medieval artefacts were recovered.[3][4]
Blue Boar constructed the southbound services, in addition to their services at Watford Gap but shortly before completion in 1999 they were acquired by Roadchef, who now operate the site.[citation needed]
The 2019 Motorway Services User Survey found that Stafford's northbound side was in the top five motorway services in the UK for customer satisfaction.[5]
Location
The services are located in Staffordshire on the M6 motorway between junctions 14 and 15, and are accessed directly from the motorway. Stoke on Trent is located about 10 miles (16 km) to the north, Manchester about 60 miles (97 km) to the north, and Stafford is about 8 miles (13 km) to the south. By road they are about 150 miles (240 km) from London and 30 miles (48 km) from Birmingham.
^Ings, M. (1993), North Pirehill Farm, Stone, Staffordshire: Fieldwalking and Geophysical Survey (Report No 93145), Cirencester: Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd
^Ings, M. (1994), Norh Pirehill Farm, Stone, Staffordshire: Archaeological Evaluation (Report No 93152), Cirencester: Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_84994.jpg)
.svg)
