Eurotunnel
(former)
| Road: | Channel Tunnel (at M20 J11A) |
| Address: | Eurotunnel UK Terminal Ashford Road Folkestone Kent CT18 8XX |
| Opened: | 2007 (the terminal itself opened in 1994) |
| Closed: | Welcome Break facilities removed 2013 |
| Services type: | Single site located within a larger complex |
In 2007, Welcome Break won a contract to provide facilities in the UK Eurotunnel Departures Terminal. This page deals with that facility only, not the whole terminal itself.
Facilities
Catering: Coffee Primo, Eat In, Burger King, Coffee Nation
The following facilities are still on site at the UK Departures Terminal but are operated by other companies: Harvest Market, Starbucks, Burger King, WHSmith, La Gare, Leon, World Duty Free Shop, AA Travel Shop, Travelex Bureau de Change, Children's Play Area. At arrivals, Rontec operates an Esso garage.
For an up-to-date list, check with LeShuttle.
Trivia and History
Welcome Break signed up to the contract to see how well they would do away from the motorway. They initially said the operation was a great success, and that they were considering other places they could introduce their facilities to widen the appeal of their brand. In particular, they were interested in the French Eurotunnel Terminal.
Their facilities consisted of Welcome Break's usual catering offer for the time, within a unit of the main passenger terminal building. The branding Welcome Break Truckers was provided at the freight terminal.
In August 2013, the contract expired and all of Welcome Break's facilities were removed from the Eurotunnel Terminal.
The Coffee Primo here was the last one in the country, lasting until 2013 when all the others had been removed by 2010. Ironically, just like all the other outlets, the Coffee Primo here was replaced by Starbucks, but in this case the replacement Starbucks is not operated by Welcome Break.
Previously, this unit had been occupied by a 'Food Village', consisting of Burger King, Little Chef Express and Pret A Manger. At the time Little Chef had just been sold by Compass (a spin-off of Granada), who may have put these three together.
This wasn't Welcome Break's first venture into this market. In the early 1990s they took on a similar catering building nearby at Dover Port, but this contract was lost when the company was sold.