Ah, the one just opposite the quarries?
I never ate there, (for no particular reason, just happenstance) but have mates who did and said it was good.
Yes, thatās the one and they were rare in having a lad advising where everyone should best park. After I stopped with the heavies and turned up now and again with car and caravan, he found me a nice little spot next to the restaurant. I wonder if he is still there and if I will still have the sweet spot. 
Favourite of mine too! Heās me parked up outside it exactly twenty years ago, just locking the door to go in for a spot of nosh and vino collapso (still readily available in those days, of course!).
No parking that side for a few years now, as itās been dualled.
Just out of interest, I dug out my old log to see where I was going to and coming from. The photo was dated 27th July 2005 and Iād loaded stillages of auto-parts in Barcelona and was heading to Banbury!
If 2005 would you have run up the A75 then?
Barca, Beziers A75, Clermont F, A71, Orleans?
Then which port?
No real reason, just curious to know.
According to my log I exited Spain at La Junquera so I may well have used the Clermont route - I canāt remember and I was quite creative in varying my routes. I sailed out of Calais on the Seafrance Berlioz to Dover.
That is really strange, by 2005 I was already 2 years retired but I donāt remember being able to park opposite, but clearly you are.
It was on the RN 154. IIRC, it had a centre lane marked for lorries turning in or out of the routier. It wasnāt dualled then, and if Iāve got faulty memory syndrome, my camera didnāt 
I can remember the road before dualling, but could not put a date or year to it.
@les_sylphides says that pic was 2005, so fair enough.
It canāt have been long after it was dualled though I think.
That town raises many memories! And some lost nights (probably best to leave them forgotten)
I was there a couple of times over the last year or so. One trip to Barca, Figures, and the coast, and during a 4x4 ramble along the Pyrenees.
Bizarre place. Or bazaar? Buy anything there.
Iāll update you after Wednesday. 
When I drive home from Spain I vary my route and pass through La Junquera occasionally.I remember many weekends there in my youth.I fuel up there before I cross into France.The town is almost unrecognisable from the old days.I broke down in Figueres 2 years ago and found it to be a pleasant town.I also recall bob tailing to Roses for a sunday out.Couldnāt do it now.The town is a lot bigger and has changed.Happy memories.
I used to like La Junquera until about 20 yrs ago when the EEs arrived and changed it overnight (along with the ferries and umpteen previously nice places).
True.The EEs used to take up all the parking spaces but spend nothing in restaurants.I remember struggling to find a space at BP St.Andre de Cubzac to park up one day, but the restaurant was empty.It closed for good soon after.
Similarly La Junquera.There were several restaurants,all good,but not now.Decent place for a weekend layover then.
When the Aduana post was open and there was lots of safe parking, it was a joy to stop there. Lots of restos in competition and good fresh food at decent prices. Last year I went in a couple of the restos in the newer buildings there, and I reckon it is still good value, but the atmosphere of the smaller, older, family run places is missing.
I transported a Dobermann to meet his new owners today and arranged the rdv at the Centre Routier in Moulins. Amazed to find it shut, and a sign on the window said, in French of course, āFor sale or to letā. It was one a several owned by a corporation Top something or other. Another one was the Limoges one which suffered from a shortage of staff which could mean an hour between courses, but this one I always approved of and it was always full. The diesel pumps are still in operation and the vast parking too.
Called āTop Roulerā or similar? I donāt know all the business insānāouts but several Centre Routiers changed name at the same time from āArcotelā. I donāt know if they were all owned centrally or were some sort of franchise or co-operative? And again unsure but were the parkings and maybe buildings owned by the local Chambers de Commerce? But the restaurant business separate? All guesswork from me.
Lots of them seem to be closed now. At one time they all seemed to be very busy. Full parkings and full tables, but later full parkings and almost empty tables.
Edit. Top Du Roulier
I think you are right about the tie up for those vast hard tarmac parking areas being shared with local authorities, when you think of the traditional routiers with their moonscape parkings there is no way such small businesses could afford all that. Very sad though, I have often parked there overnight and eaten well in good company.
As I passed on the N 145 near Gueret it looked to me like that routier near the Vaulry sortie was shut too. What is it with this modern breed of young drivers? Preferring to stay in the cab and cook like so many Brits?
In the end I stopped at that routier at the eastern end of Montmarault, happily still open, just for a couple of petit cafes and a biscuit. Another driver in there paid for his coffee in one go for his forthcoming evening meal. All of 22 years since I was last in there and the menu on the board looked tempting, but me and my mate, Jules the Beauceron, needed to be back home after a long and storm and spray racked day. 
It is a few years ago but I did stop several times at Montmarault to eat and to use the AS24 too. Decent restaurant with a surprisingly big parking out the back. I guess the road works there are all finished now?
There were some decent restaurants off the A20 near Arnac-La-Poste and Parnac. Used them both at different times. The former was obviously in trouble when they stopped taking all card payments and wanted cash only, the then owners closed it. Dunno if re-opened or not.
I can remember good Arcotel centres routier at Beaune, Caen, Le Havre, Limoges, Moulins, Modane, Orleans, Poitiers, Rouen, Roye and Toulouse. They were usually quite big and always clean, with good value meals. But they never quite had the atmosphere of the cosy family-run Les Routiers restraurants.