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The Sheringham site’s Budgens store was upgraded inside and out 

Forecourt operator Ben Lawrence has spent £90,000 upgrading two of his sites in Norfolk with new pumps, and his first AdBlue tank and dispenser – and he believes the timing is ideal to get the maximum value from the investment.

He believes that beyond the expected 10- to 15-year lifespan of the equipment, the onset of electric vehicles may begin to make many conventional fuel pumps obsolete.

“This could be the last re-pumping for Sheringham and Harleston. I wonder whether in 10 to 15 years we will be taking it all out, rather than investing a substantial further amount on a declining market,” says Lawrence. “Maybe at that point we will think it is done now and we can invest in other projects.”

The investment at the two Shell forecourts is part of £500,000-plus Lawrence is spending in the first six months of the year to develop his Lawrence Garages business, which also includes a third, BP site. He owns another two properties that he leases to Applegreen.

The work at Sheringham – which included installing an Adblue tank and dispenser, and replacing 10-year-old pumps – finished this month. The four new multipart Petrotec Axon 5000 pumps, taking three products and with six hoses, have vapour recovery stage 2. Supplied by Petroassist they can later be upgraded to take pay at pump.

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Lawrence’s Sheringham site upgrade includes an AdBlue tank and dispenser, the first for his business

The site’s Budgens store was also given a complete refit, with a new fascia, Gerflor GTI grey flooring, air conditioning, 10% more chiller space, and a third more freezer capacity, during which the business was shut for five days.

The facelift also included a new Costa machine, an iSqueeze orange juice maker, and a Rollover cabinet, in a run of food and drink to go brands including Bake & Bite snacks and Tango Ice Blast frozen beverages. Lawrence also introduced a backlit custom-made vape unit, positioned behind the counter with spirits.

Shopfitter JS Bowsher gave the outlet a more bespoke feel with Grey Nebraska oak vertical panels fitted to the walls, says Lawrence. Meanwhile, black shelving, and black Pastorfrigor fridges with doors, and spray-painted ceiling have created a more “modern, slick premium feel”, he adds.

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The Pastorfrigor fridges give the Sheringham store a more “modern, slick premium feel”, says Lawrence

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Bespoke touches include vertical oak wall cladding

Finishing the project on deadline was a challenge. “The last day, me and the general manager were on site for 26 hours to open on the Saturday morning. We were there at 8am Friday and left just after 10am on Saturday. It was a massive push to get it over the line,” he says.

At Harleston, the installation of the four multipart Petrotec Axon 5000 pumps, also taking three products, and with six hoses, but without VR2, was completed in five days without closing shop.

Work at his third site, a BP forecourt at Sholing in Southampton, will complete next month and include a store room extension and a two bay jet wash with a boom. A second rollover car wash and another jet wash will be installed at the site

By the middle of the year, Lawrence hopes to add three EV chargepoints at the Hampshire site. It will be the first time the business has tried electric vehicle charging, at a cost of £40,000 to £50,000 for the equipment, and another £140,000 for the groundworks. “It will help us establish whether we should use space to increase EV charging or jet wash,” says Lawrence.

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The run of food and drink includes a new iSqueeze juice maker and Costa machine

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A third more freezer space was introduced at the Sheringham store