Seasoned forecourt operator Steve Highland has gone into partnership with fellow BP dealer Ian Turner, with plans for a “well over a million pound” investment to transform Tothill Services into a “top notch” facility for truck drivers, as well as motorists.
Highland bought a majority stake in the Stowmarket family business just off the A14 at Junction 49 in January. He now has six forecourts operating under the Highland Group name.
This latest 6.5 acre site, with a fuel volume in excess of 6mlpa, includes a 120 container storage unit rental business. It also has a busy motorcycle dealer as a tenant. And signposted as a designated A14 services, it is already a popular destination for truck drivers and motorists.
But the site is tired and in need of development, and Highland is excited to be working with Turner to bring it to its full potential, returning it from a 16-hour operation to around the clock.
Plans, subject to planning permission, include resurfacing the HGV parking area to take 20-plus trucks, installing driver showers, introducing Ad Blu on pump, upgrading the three HGV pumps, replacing the old, small fuel tanks with larger versions, and making a bunkering facility available.
And Highland says that he might consider reinstating valeting with a jet wash hub, and even electric vehicle charging at some time in the future, to go alongside the four islands of fuel, with eight pumps.
Renovation of the 1,400sq ft store, with new refrigeration and shelving, will begin imminently. In January the shop switched from a Spar operation to being supplied by Co-op Wholesale.
Currently the shop turns over more than £1m a year, with hot food, and Paddy & Scott’s coffee in the mix.
Highland, who has now largely handed over the running of the business to his son Tom, says that he is excited to bring the look and feel of his family’s award-winning Childerley Gate petrol station in Cambridgeshire to Tothill Services: a move he believes will double its fuel and shop sales within 12 months.
“You have to look at what we’ve achieved at Childerley Gate, turning it from 70,000 litres per week site to 150,000 litres, and increasing the shop sales from £9,000 a week to £90,000 a week. There is no reason that we can’t do the same at Tothill.”
This is the first site for the Highland Group in Suffolk. It has been owned by the Turner family for decades. Glen Turner, one of the two brothers who inherited the business from their father wanted to sell up and so Highland seeing its potential for redevelopment stepped in.
“I’ve known Ian Turner for in excess of 20 years from BP dealings. He would come to same dealer meetings,” says Highland. “I am very happy to have the opportunity to work with Ian. He has a vast knowledge of the site and knows its history, and between us we want to take it forward.”
Highland Group also operates two other sites in Cambridgeshire, and one in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Its managing director Tom Highland famously said that he wants to operate 10 forecourts by the age of 40: six years away. But the father and son will be selective in further acquisitions.
“Opportunities like Tothill Services are rare, and while we are looking to expand if the right opportunity arises we don’t want to be multiples. I don’t want to buy 50 boxes and stick com operators in there. I like bespoke garages that are different,” adds Steve Highland.
