November 2023
The Visit
I visited this one with Mrs Gronk en route to the Lakes for a mini-getaway, for as long as I can remember I have been fascinated with the tower at Forton/ Lancaster Services, but who can honestly blame me? You can’t ignore the 20 metre tall tower dominating the northbound carriageway.
We stopped at the services for a quick pitstop and, as I have done every time I pass, I took a quick look at the access point and, to my amazement, we found a way in. Sadly, all I had to hand was my phone camera, but not wanting to let this opportunity pass, I pushed on. We started on the observation deck (level 3) which didn’t disappoint, we were met with stunning views of the Lancashire countryside on a warm and clear day. We were able to freely wonder the level accompanied by the roar of the motorway below.
After I’d taken what felt like hundreds of photos of the skyline, we proceeded down the stairs to the restaurant deck (level 2) which is currently being used by the services as a storage area, despite this there are still plenty of original features present. Unfortunately, there were a few signs of neglect on this floor with damp walls and foliage growing in the former seating area. The walls were still decorated in the ‘Rank Organisation’ colour scheme they would have had when the tower was open to the public. We wondered the deck freely again, determined to see every millimetre of the tower before leaving.
Once we’d exhausted every part of the level, we had a quick look around the staircase which winds its way up the tower, the lower section of which appears to now be used as a staff locker room and changing area. We made our escape and had a quick sandwich and went on our way.
Forton Services under construction
Forton/ Lancaster services and The Pennine Tower on 28 August 1968.
The History
The Pennine Tower was originally due to open in April 1965 but due to delays with construction it was eventually pushed back to November, as part of the newly constructed Forton services, it was actually the second service station to open on the motorway after Charnock Richard which opened a few years earlier in 1963. The services took its name from the nearby village of Forton and was designed by T. P. Bennett and Son, when the facility opened it was originally operated by The Rank Organisation. It was opened on the Preston-Lancaster section of the M6 with junction 33 is to the north and junction 32 is to the south; this section of the motorway opened in the same year as the services.
The tower boasted an up-market restaurant and a sun deck which had been designed to resemble an air traffic control tower which spans 22.5 m metres across. Initially the tower proved popular with motorists offering unrivalled views of the countryside. However, during the first quarter of 1967, the tower-restaurant recorded a loss of £700 (approximately £10,700 in 2023). While that's the only period for which precise figures are available, it confirms that even during the supposed peak of the motoring-dining era, the tower was struggling to cover its basic running costs. Rank complained that most visitors weren't buying anything, and that traffic levels were much lower than expected.
The tower had space to hold more than 120 diners. It is true that modern fire regulations wouldn't allow 120 people to congregate in the tower, so it wouldn't be able to operate at full capacity and staff would have to count how many people came up. However the reality is that for most of its life the tower would have struggled to attract 120 diners at any one time, and patronage was usually in the single figures.
Fast forward a few years and cost-cutting was having an additional impact, plus social changes and driving becoming less leisurely all meant that the tower's prospects were bleak. Most of Rank's restaurants were soon struggling to make any money, and the unique running costs and impracticality of the tower meant it was especially difficult to justify. The desperate cutbacks meant the food was soon described as "an insult”.
What was left of the 'fine dining' restaurant was converted to a trucker's lounge, swapping with the facilities downstairs, before the tower closed completely to the public in 1989. It then soldiered on for another 15 years, partially re-fitted, as a head office, then as staff training and storage, but even this became too impractical, and the tower is now not used at all.
Photos
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[9] - Southbound Services
[10] - M6 Southbound
[11] - Northbound Services
[12] - M6 Northbound
[13]
[14] - Panoramic
Cheers for looking 
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