A1 sex shop in Cambridgeshire to be replaced by Moto service station

The Sawtry branch of Pulse & Cocktail off the A1 will be demolished to make way for a new services development

A new motorway services area will replace a sex shop on the A1(M) after it was granted planning permission.

Moto Hospitality will build a petrol station, food courts and shops on the site at Sawtry in Cambridgeshire.

Pulse and Cocktails, which opened in 2011 despite opposition from some residents, will be demolished.

Moto said the new services, approved by Huntingdonshire District Council, will have parking for 38 lorries and 156 cars, will provide 120 jobs.

Pulse and Cocktails opened in 2011 in a former Little Chef next to the northbound carriageway, but the former motel on the site has remained unused

Graham Kidd said he had hoped Pulse and Cocktails could be incorporated into the new development, but they had had "no consideration from anybody"

Pulse and Cocktails said the firm had invested £200,000 in its rented building, a former Little Chef, over the past 10 years and the redevelopment would lead to a loss of jobs for its staff.

Speaking before the council voted to approve the proposals, director Graham Kidd, said he had hoped the adult shop could be incorporated into the new development.

"We felt we were part of the community; we employed people from the village," he said.

"I can understand that the site needed to be upgraded; it's a bit of an eyesore.

"We just hoped more consideration could have been given to our business."

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Mr Kidd said Moto had acquired the shop's 10-year lease which ends in six months' time.

"We've had no help to re-locate... we do feel we've had no consideration by anybody," he said.

Moto Hospitality said its £20m investment "will transform what is largely a brown-field site and will provide an important rest stop on a very busy stretch of the A1(M)".

Simon Bywater, Conservative district and county councillor for Sawtry, said: "Residents didn't want Pulse and Cocktails originally, but they learnt to live with it.

"The village will very much welcome the proposals and the 120 jobs; it's a run-down site and it will be good for Sawtry."

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