“The Cafe” breakfast & coffee shop at Folkestone, located left of the main entrance, between the former West Cornwall Food Co & Curried Away, opposite customer seating. The Cafe has no seating of its own because of its close proximity to the main seating area. “The Cafe” seems to be a Stop24 own brand & is a quite important, yet frequently overlooked, facility at the site. Folkestone doesn’t have a Starbucks or Costa, so The Cafe supplies customers coffee & breakfast items. Additionally, there are beer taps at “The Cafe”. This is an odd idea, which can result in dangerous driving. The Cafe has been here since roughly 2018 & replaced a cafe called “Pitstop”, which I believe was a Stop24 own-brand. This replaced Burger 100. Various coffee shops have traded at Folkestone, including Coffee Republic & Coffee Stop. There also used to be a coffee outlet called Cafe24 here, located in a kiosk. These have all closed due to a severe lack of custom at the site. The Cafe is likely to suffer further lack of custom after the planned drive thrus open (these being Costa and McDonald’s, which are highly recognisable high street brands which notoriously both provide coffee & breakfast products). These will also distract people from entering the amenity building entirely, continuing the evident spiral of decline at Folkestone. This pic evidences the open, spacious interior of Folkestone. It would be very handy if it was ever busy. The Cafe somewhat resembles the type of facilities that could be found at services in the 60s/70s, independently owned. It also shows how much less care goes into motorway services these days & sit down, waited meals have become takeaway fast food. If this Cafe ever was replaced, it would likely just be rebranded & still owned by Stop24. Prices at Stop24’s cafe are rather expensive, making the brand more off-putting for customers. It’s similarly priced to motorway Costa & Starbucks outlets. The Cafe was rather quiet during my visit. The time was 12pm, a time you’d expect a facility like this to be popular, especially since they specialise in breakfast & lunch. “The Cafe” isn’t included on the roadside signposts either direction of the M20 for Folkestone. Instead, they include recognisable high street names like Subway. The Cafe also isn’t advertised much around the site, but is included on the small totem pole outside the amenity building’s entrance. This shows Stop24 understands it’s not their most profitable/engaging brand.

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

Assigned to galleries: Folkestone, M20, Stop 24