Friday 20th July 1962

Strensham services in Worcestershire, the first service station on the M5, opened. Severn years later the M5, which was built with dual two-lane carriageways, was extended southwards, from junction 8, with dual three-lane carriageways. It was widened between junctions 3 and 8 to dual three-lane carriageways in the early 1990s including a remodelling of junction 8 (M50). The proximity of the northbound Strensham service area to the remodelled junction would have caused issues with traffic trying to join and leave the motorway and so it was relocated half a mile to the north on a new larger site in 1991. The exit from the southbound services has been altered to feed directly into the M50 junction. The former northbound area is now in use as a maintenance area, though due to the motorway widening this can now only be accessed from the local road network.