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For anyone who drives up and down the M1 the new service area is now open, we went in today and i have to say its an amazing set up….
The petrol station sells everything you could need for a car journey from nintendo dsi, games, kids books, crayons, wooden puzzles you name it they sell it…
The food has a bit for everyone… Costa coffee, aCafe which does salads, hot food (looked nice) pasta, lost of fresh fruit, fruit salads, chunks of watermellon, then lots and lots of yummy cakes and pastries, not to mention BURGER KING yum yum (which we had)There is plenty of good sized parking spaces, an outdoor playground and a free indoor play area, we sat and ate our food and let the kids play… we were able to get the sunday papers and have a read while the kids played away for free…..
Have to say was very very impressed and many more are needed all over the country, think there are another 6 twin service areas in the pipeline
Ds1 asked could we go back again.
Girls it would make a great place for a coffee morning or meet up 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆Take it this the one in Lusk….as one in Castlebellingham not open yet…..cant wait until it does….will make a change to be able to stop somewhere while driving to my nans!!
Sounds like a good set up alright, hope they do the same in the wee county.
yummy as far as i know all the other stations are carbon copies of the one in Lusk… have to say its brilliant
Was in the other day – have to say very impressive and about time too!! Will be great for me when I’m whizzing up and down the M1 to meetings and work stuff.
One thing though, could they have made the pick n mix stand anymore appealing to kids?!!!! Its a fire engine with flashing blue lights and the works and its filled with every kind of sweet imaginable. I can just hear the pleading now….. please mum pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
It’s about time….now they need to get cracking on building one for the M8, its a great road and makes getting to Cork etc much quicker but it no fun when one the kids needs a wee and you have to go in the bushes!!! 😆 😆
Coming back from Dublin last night at 1 am was great to be able to pull in to a lovely clean petrol station without having to detour round Julianstown and nearly disappearing in to the pot holes 😀
Didn’t go inside but it looked fab…
Taylor you reminded me of growing up..I used to love taking a trip down the motor way to the service station and back home again…we used to go to the Services at" Scotch Corner"..I used to think it was miles away possibly in Scotland!! But I think it was only 20/30 miles from our house.
The love of service stations on Motorways stayed with me for life and it used to be one of my favourite parts of a trip..especially through France..I just love them..especially in the middle of the night..just reminds me of holidays and trips 😆
Yes I hear you Sabbi about the m8 would be great to have one there, but I guess the road isn’t long finshed so we may have to wait..
DD always needs a wee just after the Jack Lynch tunnelon way home..lost count at the number of times we have weed between the two passenger doors 😆Yeah,have to agree,it is a great set up. Looks great,nice and clean and plenty of spaces. Popped into it yesterday for a nosey!!! Looking forward to the others opening,should save me quite a bit of hassle!
Have to say I literally live a couple of 100 yards away from one of the Castlbellingham ones and not looking forward to it opening one bit…. I know they are needed and they look impressive but its the end of the night sky to the back of my house, its the end of peace and quiet in my garden, there is a threat of pollution to our spring water and its been proven in other countries that they bring and increase in crime into the area’s where they are located. Which is why in most countries they try not to locate them next to a residential area.
Interesting Side to the story…
Not sure about the crime aspect? Do you mean people doing "dodgy" deals in the car parks..I wouldn’t have thought of crime being associated with a service station..A meet up place maybe for criminals?
Thats a shame that you have lost your peacefull view , I guess someone somewhere will always lose whilst others benefit..they should build them further from residential areas..I guess its more difficult here in Ireland where maybe more people live Rurally or in smaller areas in a smaller country!
I know what its like to lose a nice view from your house..when we bought our house it was oposite a lovely hedgerow and so peacefull, however we knew that it wouldn’t last long and one day the bulldozers moved in and destroyed all that lovely old hedgerow..we now have an estate opposite us..granted it isn’t the worst but I much preferred the hedge row and little old farm which used to be there.
But as Phil and Kirsty say..unless you own everything between yourselves and the view then be prepared one day for the worst 🙁Can it be right what I heard that this is the only set of services currently in Ireland on M1?
Surely not?
Nice enough and needed but are they in nec the best spot on the mway I wonder?
But anyway, creating some much needed jobs I suppose.
I think they are quite ordinary really, nowt special.
Correct me if I am wrong but I think they are the firstin the whole country.
Up until a few years back there weren’t really many long motorways so not really needed..now its all connected fully Belfast- Cork its about time.
I remember the first time driving from Dublin to West Cork about 10 years ago and it would take about 6 hours plus 😆
In a grand position..well it saved me pushing the car home last night 😆
Thats what I mean, there are none anywhere else in the country? Thats what I heard, Really? Bizarre IMHO
But now there are motorways in more places, would’ve thought the two go hand in hand? Most peculiar…
no hjs these are the fisrt one in the country.
now in fairness there are several exits off every motorway, some of these places depend on passerbys…….i for one can live quite happily without one but i do why they are being built.
HJS in the ten years that the M1 has been built, there have been over 30 applications for Motorway Service Stations by Private Enterprises, all were objected to by the NRA. They are still objecting to them all over the place, but the reason why is, they want the monopoly on them so that they can build them with our taxes. You will also notice that the pictorial signs for petrol and services have been taken from the exit signs nearest these Service Stations. If a petrol station wants to advertise legally on the Motorway it costs over €10k per year.
The crime point of view comes from what they call travelling crime. Apparently it brings the city criminal’s who don’t like to veer onto rural roads further out into the country and its very easy to park in the service station, hop the fence and you have a whole village on your doorstep you would never have bothered with before. They are supposed to be also a great draw for prostitution. Remember there can be up to 20 Truckers there over night.
To be honest we fought this as a village tooth and nail, we never stood a chance against the system, there are a lot of considerations to it. In New Zealand and Austrailia, service stations are not allowed within a 2 mile radius of a school or childcare facility because of the risks of increased air pollution. Our national school is about 800m from it.
I’ve accepted that its there and its opening next week without the promised trees & planting to reduce the noise and light pollution. Life will change a bit, but I’m holding onto to the fact that there is no actual entry/exit to the service station from the village and hopefully that will mean that although yes there will be more noise and light that if thats the only change, it won’t be so bad.
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