Folkestone services
M20 at J11
(also accessible to traffic on the A20 and the B2068)
Signposted from the road.
CT21 4BL
map and directions
Single site located at a junction.
Folkestone is located just minutes from the Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover. It also doubles up as a 'Port Early Arrival Facility', meaning that anyone early for their ship or a train can stop by and rest before heading onwards.
Facilities
Catering: Café 24, Chopstix Noodle Bar, KFC, Pitstop, Subway, West Cornwall Food Company, Tchibo Shops: Hythe Convenience Store, WHSmith Main Amenities: Coach Interchange, Ecotricity Electric Vehicle Charging Point, Ferry Timetables, Free Cash Machines, Harbour Shipping (Bureau de Change)website, Quicksilver, Showers Motel: none Forecourt: Shell (with: Autogas LPG), Select, Deli by Shell, Costa Express, Air1 AdBlue, Car Wash
Parking Prices
First two hours free for all vehicles. After this, cars must pay £6 per 24 hour period, and cars and caravans must pay £20 per 24 hour period. HGVs must pay £23, or £27 to include a £5 meal voucher.
Tickets can be bought at the self service pay point next to the Bureau de Change.
Contact Details
Address:
Stop 24 Services
Stanford Intersection
Hythe
Kent
CT21 4BL
- Telephone number: 01303 268 671
- Grid reference: TR132372
- what3words: ///puff.pigment.salary
Trivia and History
Sitting against the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Folkestone officially opened on 9 January 2008 but the services themselves actually opened with a dry run a few days earlier (before any of the signs were put up), giving them the nickname 'the secret services'. Many of the units didn't open until a few days later, and the hotel, a Days Inn, wasn't scheduled to open until Autumn 2008 (in the event it was never built).
It's located at the first exit after the Channel Tunnel, meaning the roundabouts offer a first test for a lot of foreign-registered vehicles.
Having been removed from just about every service station, Wimpy made a surprising return to the motorway network by opening at the services. It was then removed again in 2013. Julian Graves had a store here too.
Folkestone is the only service area in England to decline to take part in the Transport Focus survey. Before pulling out it held an 86% satisfaction score.
Planning
When the M20 was being planned in 1972, it was decided services should be built near Maidstone and "Stanford", with another one opening in between. No exact location was specified for Stanford (though it would probably have been slightly west of Stop 24), as studies were put on hold until further information about the planned Channel Tunnel was available.
Building a service area closer to Sellindge was considered but ruled out as the Landscape Advisory Committee would object.
By the time these studies were complete, the Department for Transport were no longer responsible for planning new services. In the 1990s several services were planned here but the Department for Transport rejected them all as it said they weren't suitable.
The original plans were for the services to be open by November 2007. In 2010 Henry Boot Developments tried to sue several companies for misrepresenting the number of visitors, facilities and signs on the motorway this service area would get. The case was dismissed.
The Name
Until recently Folkestone services didn't actually have an official name. Stop 24, the operator, call it Stop 24 and Extra, who owned the petrol station and leased it out, called it Folkestone. The locals and planners called it Westenhanger and the Highways Agency called it Saltwood!
The signs on the road used to refer to it simply as 'services and port early arrivals'. In 2015, signs were erected officially referring to it as Folkestone services. Perhaps misguidedly, we like to take credit for having influenced that, as we are the only source which has referred to it as Folkestone consistently.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| Maidstone (23 miles) | Services on the M20 |
no official services Moto's Facilities at Dover Port (14 miles) |
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