Charnock Richard Services, M6 Motorway 1989

<p>This 1989 view shows the car park at Charnock Richard Services on the M6, with the low modernist services building rising behind a busy spread of late-1980s traffic. The most prominent cars include a red BMW 3 Series in the centre, a blue Vauxhall Astra to the left, a dark Jaguar XJS further ahead, a red Ford Sierra estate to the right and a gold Rover 800 at the edge of the frame. Around them are plenty of other everyday period vehicles filling the bays, helping to make the scene a strong record of motorway service-area parking at the end of the 1980s. More than just a study of individual cars, the photograph captures a very familiar British travel setting, where the architecture, shopfronts and tightly packed mix of family hatchbacks, executive saloons and sporting coupes all place it firmly in its time.</p>