Long-awaited service station creates 50 new jobs

The 24-hour Saddle Inn Services was named after the historic pub that used to stand on the plot

A new service station in the suburbs of Preston has opened creating 50 new jobs.

The 24-hour Saddle Inn Services was named after the historic pub that used to stand on the plot.

It was built as part of the development of the Preston Western Distributor Road – connecting the A583 Blackpool Road with a new junction 2 on the M55 at Higher Bartle.

It opened 12 months ago, but it was almost a further year before the services started up alongside the £207m dual carriageway.

Edith Rigby Way links the A583 Blackpool Road and Riversway with junction 2 on the M55 near Bartle

Located on the corner of the new road – now officially known as Edith Rigby Way – and William Young Way, another route created as part of the same project, the service station began to open in phases during the latter part of the spring.

The arrival of Greggs at the end of June completed the line-up, when the bakery chain joined a Spar, a Subway and a drive-thru Starbucks branch on the site.

The businesses are based around a petrol forecourt operating under the EG on the Move moniker – part of the Blackburn-based EG Group, founded by the multi-billionaire Issa brothers.

The Saddle Inn was flattened almost two years ago as part of the Preston Western Distributor Road's construction.

The pub was thought to have been founded in the location more than 300 years ago.

However, it struggled in the final decade of its centuries-long existence, enduring periods of closure in 2015, 2017 and 2019, before time was called for good at the height of the pandemic in December 2020.