Toll bar cafe

A bit of lunch here with Cathy today.
I couldn’t believe this place when we went in as it’s so much bigger than I ever thought.
The road which is on the left of the picture behind the gate is the old A6 which in the old days before the motorway was built was the sole route up the west side of England all the way to Scotland.
Always a massive bottle neck in Broughton village there were cars, Lorrie’s & buses queuing to get through the traffic lights.

This was the route that my school bus took & I used to sit on the top deck left hand side so I could wave to a boy who worked in the feed mill there that I fancied!
The bus passed right up to the top deck where they used to load the sacks onto the tractors that used to come for cattle feed.

A couple of years ago they built a bypass so this very busy village only has local traffic passing through now. It is totally changed, they even altered the direction the main road from north to south into east to west! That caused a few accidents I can tell you!

This cafe was the toll house, only very small but they have extended at the side & built a garden. It’s run by the local community on a voluntary basis.

[Casablanca]

How interesting that it is not as you expected!

[julia]

A nice surprise then and has bought back some lovely memories.. Had a little giggle about Young Pat having a bit of a flirt with Young Mill worker..

[Beverley]

Wonderful to have warm happy memories, lovely spot to share lunch with a friend and exchange thoughts…

[GaryW]

What an interesting story! It is hard to imagine, sometimes, all that has changed during our lifetime!!

[Judith Johnson]

Lots of happy memories Pat, and a super day for your lunch out

[Beryl Lloyd]

Interesting narrative Pat and lots of memories . A lovely little place for lunch with Cathy!

[Carole Sandford]

Interesting story & looks a nice place for lunch.

[Lou Ann]

It’s a lovely village. In this instance the traffic bypass sounds like a very good thing. You have some great memories there.

[Maggiemae]

It looks such a narrow road and unable to be widened, it is no wonder they found another way to go! An interesting place with history to have lunch!

[Phil Howcroft]

looks like a nice day for al fresco eating Pat

[Joan Robillard]

Good capture

[Babs]

What a lovely place for lunch. I remember the old A6 from my younger days living in Lancashire. Everywhere we drove when I was a child seemed to be at some point on the A6.

[Dorothy]

What an interesting background story! Do you know what happened to the boy at the feed mill? I often wonder what happened to old friends.
Looks like a nice place to have lunch.

[Barb]

Love your story accompanying this wonderful photo of a place that holds so many memories for you!

[Delwyn Barnett]

There must have been a crazy bottleneck in the village before the bypass went in!

[Issi Bannerman]

Love the story! And the image. I smiled when I read about you fancying and waving to the boy who worked at the mill!

[Lois]

Great photo and story!

[Pat Knowles]

@loweygrace @jamibann @dkbarnett @bjywamer @illinilass @onewing @joansmor @phil_howcroft @maggiemae @louannwarren @carole_sandford @beryl @busylady @thewatersphotos @beverley365 @julzmaioro @casablanca

Thank you all. As for the young man he was one of the friends we went round with so I did know him but never went out with him. Last time I saw him was many years ago when I was visiting the hospital & he was a paramedic. We had a brief conversation but I could find out if I asked around.

[Dione Giorgio]

Fav. Looks a very friendly place to stop for a quick coffee or tea.

[Brian]

Love your story and this image.

[Dianne]

I laughed at your lovely story. Looks a lovely place to have lunch.

[Sarah Bremner]

It's so lovely when you have memories from school bus days to share like this. I wonder what became of the boy that you looked out for 😂😂