The Red Lion Truck Stop in Northampton has a reputation which keeps growing as service station enthusiasts head from far and wide to see what the fuss is all about
A service station has become the UK’s latest and perhaps most unlikely tourist attraction.
If you are planning to drive down to M1 anytime soon, then a rest at Europe’s top rated road stop may well be in order. The reputation of The Red Lion Truck Stop in Northampton keeps growing as service station enthusiasts head from far and wide to see what the fuss is all about.
Recently 40% of lorry drivers surveyed in a poll said the Red Lion was the best of the bunch across the whole Continent. A large part of the reason why is that it not only has excellent parking spots, the Red Lion is essentially a very large pub designed to cater as much as possible to lorry drivers.
When you approach you are confronted by what could be a large Harvester or Toby Carvery on the outskirts of a medium sized British town, but with the pub’s name stamped in large red letters across the top of the mock-Tudor building. Those who arrive in a 16-wheeler or similar simply have to find a nearby bay in the shadow of the pub and walk inside.
There a series of delicious, piping hot, hearty meals can be found including the Mega Bully Buster breakfast, which features beans, four bits of bacon, four sausages, three hash browns, three eggs, mushrooms, black pudding and tomatoes. If that doesn’t finish you off, then a steak and onion baguette positively swimming in cheese surely will.
Once that’s been tucked away and washed down with a big mug of tea, long-haul drivers can freshen up in the Red Lion’s facilities which include a laundrette and showers. There is also a large shop full of knick-knacks and essentials from hi-vis jackets and phone charges to glossy magazines and tins of mints.
Come the evenings the crowds of lorry drivers and remote workers armed with laptops who enjoy the comfortable facilities are replaced by local revellers who have heard tell of the shockingly cheap £3 pints on offer.
Owner Ali Sadrudin, 38, said the site is proving a surprise hit with the general public. The family-run converted former pub also has meeting and conference rooms, a function room, a petrol station, a truck wash and is guarded 24 hours a day. Ali said he wanted to get away from the stereotype of greasy spoon truck stops and provide high-quality facilities for HGV drivers.
The dad-of-three, of Barnet, North London, has run The Red Lion with wife Zarfeen, 40, for the past 17 years. He said: “We bought it as a pub with a massive car park with permission to turn it into a hotel but it sort of just morphed naturally into becoming a truck stop.
“We had lots of lorry drivers stopping off here anyway for a coffee and food as it was near the motorway and we saw the opportunity and went for it. We wanted to turn it into something that wasn’t your normal services which can be quite clinical and having the feel of a traditional community pub helped that.
“Drivers can come here, we’ve got guards, you’ve got safety, but once you come inside, you’ve got food, drink, the shower facilities, laundry facilities and a shop. You usually get fast food of some some sort at most services and we wanted to provide quality meals in a proper restaurant and move away from the stereotypical greasy spoon truck stop.
“So you come in and you’re greeted by a bar and a friendly face. Our home-cooked curries are the most popular and we serve big portions. They are about a tenner and a pint is around £3 – we try to keep the prices low as we can too. I think that’s why we get a lot of people who aren’t truckers in too.
“We can get families in at the weekends who come for a Sunday roast or businessmen in the week on their laptops having a coffee. The shop is almost like an Amazon for lorry drivers – full of all the essentials but also impulse buys and merchandise.
“There’s cleaning products, phone chargers, toiletries, CB radios, tools and tobacco but also cooking equipment too – like portable stoves and kettles. It’s gone from being me and the wife to having a team of 28 and we get lorry drivers in from across the whole of Europe so we try to have bi-lingual staff as well.
“We just try to create a relaxing environment for lorry drivers after long shifts on the roads and provide them with everything they could need.”
The competition saw nearly 1,000 votes from across Europe to decide the trucking community’s favourite stop, which sits along the A4500 close to junction 16. The Red Lion beat off competition from the Chippeham Pit Stop, near Bristol, the Route 74 Truck Stop in Lanark, Scotland, and Rasthof Körfez 61 in Wiesentheid, Germany.
Trucker Ross Lansem, 45, of Knutsford, Cheshire, who has been driving HGVs for 20 years, stops at the Red Lion at least two times a week. He said: “The facilities here are just second to none. The whole place is always clean especially the showers and it has everything you could ever need. It’s got a great atmosphere and feels like a community pub.
“The food is great – I usually have the peri-peri chicken and a pint if I stop overnight in my cab. The breakfasts are amazing too. We even watched the Euros final in here and it was brilliant as you had loads of English lorry drivers on one side of the room and Italian drivers on the other.”
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