I arranged to visit Carlton Studios today (early June 2003) to see the Crossroads set (or what was remaining of it) and so I left home at 7:00AM with my sister to catch the 8:55AM train from London to Nottingham. We arrived at the security gate at Carlton Studios at 11:00AM and were given visitor passes. Then we made our way to the reception where the General Manager John Revill welcomed us.

We waited, directly opposite a display of Crossroads cast photos, for him to show us around and then we headed through the corridors of the Crossroads Hotel, which no longer had any doors, but still had the carpet and wallpaper. We turned around a few corners then suddenly found ourselves in the hotel reception! Almost all of the interior had been taken out, but the automatic doors remained. As they whizzed open to reveal the outdoor fountain the feeling was incredible!

We ran outside and looked at the hotel sign above us! John took photos of us at the hotel entrance and sitting in front of the fountain, then took us to the trailers where the cast would have changed during location scenes. The trailers were now being used for a new BBC production Doctors and Nurses. He then showed us Bradley’s shed from Mark II, which had a load of junk inside, but was still exciting to look at nonetheless!

He then took us to the props area, where my sister had a photo taken holding the blackboard advertising the karaoke night at The Cat In The Moon! John gave us a whole bunch of place mats from The Cat In The Moon and then showed us various rooms that were used for Crossroads filming. These included the interior of The Cat In The Moon pub (which was no longer recognisable) and the staff quarters from Mark II.

Down the corridor there were various noticeboards with Crossroads stuff plastered all over them that would have been used for filming. John told us to take whatever we liked so we took everything! These included Crossroads headed paper, a staff notice about holidays, a kitchen rota and two health spa leaflets. We then went back to the hotel reception where I picked up a callsheet that had been left lying there, before going to John’s office where the Crossroads costume designer Eileen Cunningham had left me a gift bag!

It was labelled on the front, in Crossroads headed paper, "with compliments - Norman Hayes". Inside there was a personal note (see below) on Crossroads headed paper from Eileen. In the gift bag, she had included Vince Vacarro’s actual kitchen uniform, the kitchen staff’s white sweatshirts, a heart badge and some continuity photos from Episodes 22 and 23, which include Tim Brooke-Taylor and Linda Robson.

After that, John showed us to the canteen where we said our goodbyes and thank-yous. But that wasn’t the end of our day, as after our lunch my sister and I decided to do something naughty and sneak back to the hotel entrance to take more photos! We also took three stones from the fountain, before heading to the main reception and taking one final photo of the Crossroads display before leaving! It was one of the most exciting and enjoyable days in all of my life and it is all thanks to the kindness and generosity of the staff at Carlton Studios who so willingly gave up their time to make my visit so memorable.

The cover of the front menu (the vertical text top left is the Crossroads address - King's Oak, Heathbury, Warwickshire)	A note given to Norman from the Costume Designer - click to read the text

Left to right: Vince Vaccaro's actual kitchen uniform, a while kitchen staff sweatshirt and a placemat from the Cat In The Moon pub!

With thanks to Norman Hayes for the the article and pictures.