The exterior of the amenity building at Folkestone in July 2024, appearing rather vacant & plain. This is a huge building, which sadly has never experienced much custom. The main reason for this is Folkestone's close proximity to the Channel Tunnel and Dover Port. Branding itself as an "Early Port Arrival facility", most customers of the ports would typically just use facilities there (such as the Moto operated amenity buildings at Dover Port and the former Welcome Break operated building at the Channel Tunnel). This means Folkestone is somewhat redundant & most traffic on the M20 wouldn't decide to stop so close to the motorways end (& the end of Britain). Folkestone officially opened on the 9th Jan 2008, with a dry run a few days before. The building is largely made up of glass, creating a bright, airy feel on the inside. Many services built in the 2000s follow a similar design. Stop 24 intended to open a Days Inn motel alongside the amenity building here, but this was never built. The signposts for Folkestone included a bed symbol, so obviously this had to be covered up. Much like Extra sites, the units at Folkestone are leased out to franchises/brands rather than being operated by Stop 24 themselves. This, along with the site's limited footfall & lack of trade, has caused several different brand partners to have a history of operating at the site. Brands such as Burger King, McDonald's, Starbucks, HMV, Whittards of Chelsea, EAT and Max99p have all once been at Folkestone, but no longer exist at the site. Only around half of the units here are currently in use, leaving the other half vacant. The large amount of space inside has made it very easy to construct a fitness suite beside Taco Bell. This, along with 2 new drive thru units provided by Roadchef (Costa & McDonald's) are expected to change the fortune of Folkestone somewhat. Currently, Folkestone is a rather tired looking services & the exterior needs a good clean. It has so much potential to be a more pleasant place to stop at. Folkestone, despite being 12pm (a typically busy time to visit motorway services) was very quiet. There was no one in this photo, only several motorbikes! Both times I've visited Folkestone it's been this quiet. Folkestone is accurately signposted from both directions of the M20 so customers know when to leave the motorway to access it. Folkestone is also accessible to traffic on the A20 and B2068.

Photo taken on 21/07/2024 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Folkestone, Stop 24, M20