19-608: (Redirected from M-69 ) M69 or M-69 may refer to: M-69 (Michigan highway) , a state highway in Michigan M69 motorway , a motorway in England between Coventry City and Leicester City M69 derby , a football match played between Coventry City and Leicester City Marine Highway 69, a designation of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway which runs along
38-418: A 26-mile unserviced stretch, which exceeds the government's maximum recommendation of 14 miles between heavy goods vehicle stations. Welcome Break Welcome Break Limited is a British motorway service station operator that operates 35 motorway service stations in England, Scotland and Wales. It is the second-largest motorway service area operator behind Moto . It also operates hotels and motels. It
57-510: A day throughout the year. Typically, each service area comprises a café or restaurant, a retail outlet, a hotel and a petrol station. Most sites have WHSmith , a food court comprising popular fast food outlets such as Burger King , KFC and Subway , a coffee shop ( Starbucks Coffee ), and a Welcome Break branded petrol station. The majority of hotels at Welcome Break service areas are franchises of Days Inn or Ramada; many of these were once branded under Welcome Break's own brand, "Welcome Lodge";
76-472: A full refurbishment it was reopened as Ramada Wakefield in January 2015. When Welcome Break chain was sold by Granada, branches of Little Chef at those sites were replaced a similar table service restaurant, Red Hen. High prices earned the chain the nickname "Little Thief". Eat In became Welcome Break's own brand self-service restaurant. However, these have since been replaced with food courts , featuring
95-574: A selection of brands varying from location to location: Recently, Welcome Break service areas have followed the industry-wide trend towards partnership with High Street brands. W H Smith stores have been introduced at the majority of Welcome Break sites as a replacement for the traditional unbranded retail outlets. Initially launched as a trial store at the Newport Pagnell site in February 2007, W H Smith stores have now been rolled out across
114-699: A subsequent investigation by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission ordered Granada to sell 27 of the Welcome Break sites. The company was eventually bought by Investcorp in 1997 for £476 million. Investcorp then sold Welcome Break to Appia Investments in March 2008 for £500M. In August 2018, Irish motorway services operator Applegreen agreed to purchase the majority of Welcome Break for €361.8M. The facilities available at Welcome Break service areas varies at each site, with most sites open 24 hours
133-647: Is a subsidiary of Irish motorways services operator Applegreen . In the United Kingdom , the company operates operates the Applegreen brand. Opened in 1959, the service area at Newport Pagnell on the M1 motorway near Milton Keynes by Motorway Services Ltd was the company's first service area under the Forte name and was the second service area to be constructed on the fledgling UK motorway network, however it
152-597: The Hanson Trust before being purchased by Trusthouse Forte in 1986. Under this deal, the Welcome Break name was adopted across the entire estate, with Trusthouse Forte's sixteen existing service areas re-branded. In January 1996, the Forte Group was the subject of a £3.9 billion hostile takeover by the British media group Granada . Due to Granada's existing major presence in the motorway services market,
171-804: The M1 near Leicester and junction 2 of the M6 near Coventry . It opened in 1977. The motorway, also known at the time as the 'Coventry – Leicester Motorway' was completed in 1977 following a public inquiry in 1972. It took traffic from the A46 , which was subsequently downgraded. Starting at the north-eastern suburbs of Coventry at junction 2 of the M6, the motorway crosses the Coventry Canal and then continues north-east past Bulkington and west of Wolvey before turning more easterly to run south of Hinckley (junction 2, known locally as 'Reacharound Island' because of
190-477: The Texas coastline Miles M.69 Marathon , an aircraft Messier 69 , a globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius M69 Grenade A training grenade M-69 Incendiary cluster bomb [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as a letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
209-485: The Welcome Break brand. Welcome Break introduced a new company logo in September 2006. The swan , integral to the previous company logo, has been removed. The new logo features a black background with the words 'welcome' and 'break' in green and white respectively. Each site now also has a large mural depicting a local landmark unique to that site. Many of these were commissioned from artist David Fisher . In 2020,
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#1732772342485228-407: The Welcome Break portfolio. Fone Bitz sell electronics across the motorway network and operate at most Welcome Break sites. Fone Bitz sell a range of Mobile Phone, iPad , iPod , Laptop, electronic and car accessories in general. Welcome Break Gaming is a self branded betting arcade located at all Welcome Break sites, except the Welcome Break operated Days Inn hotels and motels. In July 2011 it
247-699: The last of these, at Newport Pagnell and Charnock Richard, were rebranded to Days Inns in May 2009 and also took over operation of three former PURPLE hotels at Cambridge , Peterborough , and Stevenage in July 2009, each three have reopened as Days Inn taking its total to 26. In September 2012, Welcome Break opened a Days Inn at the new Cobham Service area on the M25, and 2013 saw a rebrand of Days Hotel London North and Days Inn London Stansted into Ramada hotels. In December 2014, Welcome Break purchased Days Hotel Wakefield, and after
266-563: The limited slip roads). It then crosses the Birmingham to Peterborough railway line terminating in the vicinity of suburban Enderby and Braunstone to the south-west of Leicester junction 3, where it meets the M1 with continuation along the A5460/A563 towards Leicester. The M69 has no motorway service area given that this function is fulfilled at present by Leicester Forest East services and Corley services in close proximity to
285-615: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=M69&oldid=1155485730 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages M69 motorway The M69 is a 15.7-mile-long (25 km) dual three-lane dual carriageway motorway in Leicestershire and Warwickshire , England. It runs between junction 21 of
304-428: The network's relationship with Welcome Break, and will start updating charge points to include contactless payment and faster chargers However, whilst other MSAs were rapidly upgraded, by Christmas of 2021 Gridserve had been unable to upgrade any of the Welcome Break sites. Speculation online that Welcome Break were blocking them from doing so was given credence by the installation at South Mimms of EV chargers bearing
323-656: The start and end points of this relatively short motorway. There is an aspiration to construct a new slip road and road bridge for traffic travelling southbound on the M1 to join the M69. Plans for a service station were announced in November 2023, to be located at junction one at the Stretton Baskerville roundabout. Welcome Break 's application will be the first service station for the route. The route has been without services for over 50 years and currently has
342-431: Was announced that the green energy provider Ecotricity will be providing fast and normal electric vehicle charging stations at Welcome Break service stations as part of its 'Electric highway' network, linking London in the south with Exeter in the west and Edinburgh in the north. In July 2021, it was announced that Gridserve had purchased Ecotricity 's "Electric Highway" charging network. Gridserve agreed to maintain
361-492: Was still the first to open. The name "Welcome Break" came from a chain of rival restaurants to Little Chef , created by Allen Jones. These restaurants eventually either became Happy Eaters or closed. The name was brought back when Hanson Trust renamed Ross Food's service stations. The company's portfolio was expanded to five motorway service areas during periods under the ownership of the Imperial Group and subsequently
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