Chester services is a

motorway service area Motorway service areas in the United Kingdom and Ireland, also known as services or service stations, are rest areas where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop or stay in an on-site overnight hotel. The v ...

on the

M56 motorway The M56 motorway, also known as the North Cheshire motorway, serves the Cheshire and Greater Manchester areas of England. It runs east to west from junction 4 of the M60 at Gatley, south of Manchester, to Dunkirk, approximately north of Cheste ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

, England. The site is approximately from

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

city centre. Operated by

Roadchef Roadchef is a company which operates 21 motorway service areas in the United Kingdom. It is the third-largest motorway service area operator in the country, behind Moto and Welcome Break and followed by Extra. History Roadchef was founded in ...

, it is the only motorway service area on the M56 and the last before heading into

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

History

The site was originally planned as Hapsford services in mid-November 1969, when proposed as a 28-acre site, three quarters mile from Elton Green. It was hoped to be open by late 1973.''Chester Chronicle'' Friday 12 June 1970, page 29 The proposals were scaled back to a basic rest or picnic area owned by the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

. Opened in 1978, the 'picnic' area lacked facilities and consisted of just a car park. After a previous proposal came to nothing, the planning and development of the site into a motorway services area was undertaken by

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

from 1995. A particular difficulty in designing the layout of the site was an extant electricity pylon and overhead power lines. The services were fully operational from 1998. The main building was extended and refurbished in 2016.

Location

Accessed from Junction 14 of the M56 and also signed for

Stanlow Stanlow Refinery is an oil refinery owned by Essar Energy in Ellesmere Port, North West England. Until 2011 it was owned by Shell UK. The refinery is situated on the south bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, which is used to transport seaborne ...

and

Helsby Helsby is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Overlooking the Mersey estuary, it is approximately north east of Chester and south we ...

, the services are located around from

city centre. The site is also accessible from the A5117 which intersects at the same junction. The village of

Elton Elton may refer to: Places England * Elton, Cambridgeshire (formerly Huntingdonshire), a village ** Elton Hall, a baronial hall * Elton, Cheshire, a village and civil parish * Elton, County Durham, a village and civil parish * Elton, Derbyshire ...

is to the immediate north west and the village of Hapsford is situated to the south east. After Chester services there are no further motorway services westbound on the M56, or on the nearby

M53 motorway The M53 is an motorway in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It is also referred to as the Mid Wirral Motorway. It runs between the Kingsway Tunnel, at Wallasey in the north, and the A55 at ...

and A55.

References

External links

RoadChef official website — Chester
{{UK Motorway Service Stations 1998 establishments in England Buildings and structures in Cheshire M56 motorway RoadChef motorway service stations Transport in Cheshire