Is there anywhere to eat at the Le Shuttle terminal?

[Walkthelakes]

Hi
I am driving down to le Shuttle from the North on Friday 22nd. We can only set off after school so going around 3.30pm. We are booked on the shuttle at 11.20, although it only takes 5 hours I was worried about traffic and the new biometric delay things. I don't want to stop until we are all booked in and ready to go so was wondering if there is anywhere to eat in the terminal? TIA

As far as I can remember, yes - it’s not unlike a motorway services, but with a duty free section too. So coffee shop type stuff? If you get there well before your departure time they’re likely to put you on an earlier train

Yes there are a few options like in a services and a very overpriced WH smith. I would definitely pack some snacks and drinks as well

Yes it’s a bit like services with food & loos etc.

you can do the whole thing without leaving your car if you didn’t want to or need to

There is also a large service area with a food court, petrol station and drive thru at junction 11 of the motorway (just before the channel tunnel at junction 11a) if you arrive super early.

The EES "biometric delay thing" has not yet been implemented for car passengers at Le Shuttle but there are still the usual manual checks of passports and the French border is actually on the British side before you drive on to the train (and when you come back, the UK border is actually at the Calais end)

There are plenty of videos on YouTube explaining the process, such as >

Thankyou so much--this is super helpful and I actually moved the departure from 10.20pm to 11.20pm because I was scared of missing it. Lots of people have told me the traffic can be awful on Friday evening when we are going as well so wanted to be careful.

Thanks for this. Even if I am super early I think I might only relax once we are all booked in!

will definitely pack snacks etc. It was more for something to do

The problem you will have is the time you are arriving. A lot of places there close at 1800. Starbucks is 24hr and there’s a Burger King open until 2200

Yeah, not a lot of choice if you’re arriving late; we stopped at the services just before the tunnel in March, fairly late in the evening, and everything was closed there. Only Starbucks for a toastie was open at the tunnel. I’d take sandwiches/snacks instead and eat in the car.

If you have fully flexible fare, if there is capacity you can travel on next train. There is services other side as you exit. We take food in a cool box and eat whilst travelling, part of holiday experience! We drive 24-hours down to Algarve

You may get offered an earlier departure if you arrive very early, even if you don’t have a flexible-fare. They like to keep things flowing. If I were you I’d take a packed tea. It’s the Friday night of (a) a bank holiday weekend and (b) half term so there will be several areas where there could be a potential bottleneck, although I’m not sure that Brock is being put into place for this holiday.
As pp have said, there’s a large service area just before the tunnel junction with several food outlets if needed.

The services get super busy at peak times.

its not like at the airport though where you are checked in and then can relax and wait for boarding. You check in and are given your number, depending on time of arrival this can sometimes change to an earlier or later booking as they do just like to keep it moving and there isn’t loads of parking at the terminal.
As soon as your letter comes up you do need to go as it can take ages to get through passport control and you can get bumped onto the next train. Especially if they decide to search your car and they do that at random.
I agree that it’s better to take car food, we often have a car picnic whilst waiting to board.

Just seen that Brock will be in place so that may impact your timings

I've just looked up Brock and after seeing lots of badgers I found the traffic management system. Is that a good or a bad thing that it is being implemented? I looked up the details of what it meant but couldn't really work out if it meant standstill traffic or the traffic will keep moving

Brock is a system of managing the lorry traffic, but it is put in place when the car traffic is expected to be heavy. The idea is to split the traffic in order to keep the cars moving, but the fact that it will be in place already indicates that the authorities expect exceptionally heavy traffic and delays.

As far as catching ferries and trains is concerned, the impact is that the operators usually just put everyone on the next ferry or Shuttle in the order in which they arrive regardless of which departure they are booked on.

I agree with what @Havanananana says, the numbers are there as a sort of guide but honestly they vaguely follow this when it’s busy, they just like to keep it all moving.

One thing is that once you are through customs and in queuing to get on the train there are outside toilets you can nip to and there are toilets on the train (take wet wipes to clean is my tip but they are usually kept ok)
So if you take your own food at least the loo trips are catered to. We try not to hang around at the terminal as it can mean you’re further back in the car queue and more likely to be delayed. Also if you are at the front you’re the first to drive off the train at the other end.

Are you stopping for the night on the other side?