Top 50 Indie M&L Richardson & Sons Ltd has acquired Edens Lawn Service Station in Haltwhistle, Northumberland, from another Top 50 Indie, Refuel Forecourts, taking its number of sites to nine.
Director Martyn Richardson says: “It was too good an opportunity to miss out on when we learned the service station in our local area had become available for acquisition.
“From a business perspective, we are confident it will be a success as it is on the main road in and out of Haltwhistle.
“It’s been a busy couple of weeks getting it ready and bringing it back into existence as a forecourt and it has been an amazing turnaround. I cannot thank the team enough for the work that has gone into its opening.
“With the nature of the store being a forecourt site, you are catering towards ‘on the go’, but there is also a comprehensive convenience offer for customers in Haltwhistle to take advantage of as we have a great community close to the store.”
The store is trading as a Spar while the fuel brand is Esso.
The new Spar store has an improved range of fresh goods and now has an off licence to sell beers, wines and spirits. There has also been more of a focus put on food to go, with the introduction of Spar’s meal deal and the installation of a new Cheeky Coffee machine.
Externally the eight-pump forecourt has air, water and vacuum facilities, a jet wash and InPost parcel lockers. The Evri collection and drop-off service available in-store has been retained with the changeover.
M&L Richardson has been very busy as the company has also just opened a standalone Spar store in Carlisle city centre. “It was a brilliant opportunity to place a Spar store in a prime spot in Carlisle and we really feel we have got a fantastic proposition for customers,” says Martyn.
