A new motorway services area (MSA) on the A1(M) between Peterborough and Huntingdon officially opened this week, on Monday, March 31.
Moto’s Sawtry services cost the company £17m to build and has been in the pipeline since early 2021 when planning permission was granted.
The Cambridgeshire site features various high-street food and retail outlets including Burger King, Costa Coffee, Greggs, M&S and Pret, as well as a WH Smith – which, as a WH Smith ‘Travel Store’, won’t need to rebrand as TGJones, as high-street WH Smiths are doing.
Sawtry services is Moto’s 70th site, and also features a BP filling station, together with parking for 200 cars, HGVs and coaches.
As with any self-respecting new MSA, chargers for electric cars also feature, with six Gridserve bays delivering up to 350kW of power.
Moto says the new location has created over 100 jobs in the area, with 60% of roles said to be taken by residents in Sawtry village nearby.
The firm’s chief executive, who is currently up for a CEO of the year gong at the British Business Awards, says the firm is “delighted” to have opened the new MSA, adding that the Sawtry site was Moto’s second new MSA to have opened in the last four years, with planning permission granted for two more: one on the M5, and a further site on the A1(M).
