Former West Cornwall Food unit at Folkestone, situated at the front of the amenity building, immediately left of the entrance. West Cornwall Food opened at Folkestone in 2017 & was a new idea of West Cornwall Pasty's. Typically, West Cornwall Pasty outlets are small kiosks outside amenity buildings selling snacks and pasty's. This unit, being larger & more like a cafe, was branded West Cornwall "Food", whereby they offer a selection of sandwiches & cakes as well as the usual offer of pasties. It was large, & had seating of its own. West Cornwall Pasty Co was first introduced to motorway services in 2011 to mitigate customers entering busy amenity buildings. They haven't spread around services as widely as Greggs, but they also rarely close & get replaced. This unit also has its own small entrance from the outside, benefitting motorists in a rush who can access directly. Before 2017, it was a "Real" Cafe and Starbucks. During 2022, there were plans for the American coffee chain "Gloria Jean's" to open in this unit. This would've been useful at Folkestone as there's no chain coffee outlets here (no Starbucks or Costa). This didn't occur and the unit is still left dormant. This, along with all the other various empty units at Folkestone, proves that the size of the amenity building isn't necessary for the amount of customers received. When busy, the place still feels empty and eerie. It's a strange place & hopefully the changes taking place in 2024 will be beneficial (addition of a fitness centre & new drive thrus). West Cornwall Food Co closed in 2021, so the unit has been left empty for 3 years. Folkestone's units are managed like that of a shopping centre, being leased out to brands. Extra have a similar arrangement, but this contributes towards a higher turnover of brands. Again, my photo shows the large, open nature of this amenity building. Like most built in the late 2000s and early 2010s, it has a high ceiling, lots of natural lighting (owing to large slabs of glass being used to construct the building) and is neatly arranged, with all the food units located left of the entrance and the convenience store located right. Oddly, West Cornwall Food Co is still signposted from both sides of the M20. After 3 years, you'd think Stop24 would replace it with another facility still trading at the site. This means customers expecting to find West Cornwall Food will be disappointed with its absence. West Cornwall Food wasn't advertised much around the site other than the small totem pole outside the entrance. These advertisements have now been removed.

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

Assigned to galleries: Folkestone, Stop 24, M20, West Cornwall Pasty Co, Disused Buildings