Northampton Services (M1 J15A)

Northampton services sit right at Junction 15A, the M1’s interchange with the A43, about four miles south of Northampton. It is run by Roadchef, and it was called Rothersthorpe until 2003.

You can legally use either side, whichever way you are heading

There are two separate buildings, one on each side, marketed as Northampton North and Northampton South. Unusually, both are reachable from either carriageway through the junction. The old footbridge is still standing but has been closed to the public since the site was rebuilt in 2002 — it was left in place rather than demolished, because taking it down would have meant closing the M1.

What is at Northampton Services

• Food and drink: McDonald’s, Costa, Coco di Mama, Fresh Food Café, Krispy Kreme; LEON on the northbound side, a McDonald’s Drive Thru southbound
• Shops: WHSmith, and a Co-op on the northbound side
• Fuel and charging: a BP forecourt with Wild Bean Café, and GRIDSERVE Electric Highway chargers up to 350kW
• Hotel: none — a hotel here was proposed and refused planning permission
• Lorries: HGV parking on both sides

Two hours free, then £21 for a car and £37 for an HGV, or £40 with a £10 food voucher.

Service area details are compiled from the operators’ own published information and were last checked on 14 September 2026. Facilities change — if something here is out of date, please tell us and we will correct it.

The traffic around Northampton Services

The services sit on the stretch between Junction 15 and Junction 15A, which the Department for Transport counts at 123,822 vehicles a day — the 19th busiest of the 42 measured stretches of M1 mainline. Of those, 20,301 are lorries, 16.4% of the traffic. Immediately north, between Junction 15A and Junction 16, the count is 121,280 a day. The site was earmarked by the Ministry as early as 1958 and took roughly twenty years to be built.

Traffic figures are Department for Transport road traffic statistics, annual average daily flow for 2025, both directions combined.