Burgeoning fuel brand Valero has recruited another multi-site operator, Balasingam Baheerathan, to its white, yellow and blue branding.
Baheerathan, known as Bahee, has now replaced Texaco branding with Valero at his three sites: with the relaunch of White Hart Lane Service Station in Tottenham, north London, earlier this month.
He purchased this latest site in May for £2.2m, and has just completed a six-month, £900,000 upgrade of the forecourt and 1,200sq ft shop.
Only the month before he had switched his other two former Texaco forecourts to Valero – at Eastleigh, Hampshire, and Melksham in Wiltshire.
There are now 87 Valero branded dealer sites, with Park Garage Group and Platinum Retail among those who have recently announced plans to switch sites to the brand. Valero itself is aiming to increase to 107 dealer sites by the end of the year, and 134 by April 2026.
For Baheerathan it was a significant move. He had a strong affinity with the Texaco brand. His first job when he moved from Sri Lanka in 1992 was as a cleaner in a Texaco forecourt.
But he likes the freshness of Valero’s look and said he was excited to try something new. “I thought for me it would always easily be Texaco when choosing a fuel brand. But when Valero was brought into the UK, I thought ’I’d like to try that’,” says Baheerathan.
And his gamble is paying off. Since making the change at Eastleigh, the site is scanning 11.5mlpa in fuel volume, up from10 mlpa. Melksham is running at 6mlpa, up from 5mlpa, and the Tottenham site is hitting 3.5mlpa – with ambitions to reach 6mlpa this time next year.
Work was extensive at the White Hart Lane Service Station. Baheerathan resurfaced the forecourt, and gave it a new canopy, and four replacement pumps with eight nozzles each. Five of the nine original tanks were foam filled and capped.
The remaining four tanks were double lined to take four grades of fuel instead of the previous two – diesel and unleaded petrol.
There is now a 20,000 litre tank for diesel, a 35,000 litre tank for unleaded, and two 5,000 litre tanks for premium diesel and premium unleaded.
The Londis shop, which was previously unbranded, was given a significant refit led by Booker. It now includes a refrigerated beer cave, and a food to go section with Country Choice Bake & Bite, Smokin’ Bean freshly ground coffee and Blue Ice milkshakes. A Rollover hot dog stand is to come.
The store has a modern feel with a black ceiling and recessed lighting, 18 doors of Arneg refrigeration, low 1,610cm shelving, and several digital media screens. This includes a 55 inch screen in the window, which Baheerathan may use to advertise linked deals with the hand car wash which pays him to operate on the forecourt.
The range is extensive with evening meals catered for, with fresh meat and poultry including rosemary & garlic lamb leg steaks, honey & chilli pork chops, and whole chckens. There is an American confectionery section, and chilled fresh fruit and vegetables, and frozen staples, as well as stationery and household essentials.
With the shop being open 24-hours Baheerathan has given staff extra security with a locked cash-desk kiosk to work from which has toughened glass.
Baheerathan has operated forecourts since 2002 as Niru Services, incorporating the name of his son Nirujan who aged 21 is in his final year at univerisity and who he hopes will soon join the business. Baheerathan’s wife Pirabalini helps out sometimes in the business, and the couple have an 18-year-old daughter who is studying medicine.
In his heyday Baheerathan built his forecourt business to five sites in Southampton and Portsmouth before selling all but one of them – Eastleigh Service Station – in 2016.
Since then he has been acquiring sites again and hopes to be up to five before too long. He says that when he originally came to the UK he could never have imagined being in the position he is now.
“At that time I was so grateful to have a job and couldn’t really think much beyond holding onto that,” says Baheerathan. “But I made my way up from cleaner, to cashier, to manager. Now my ambition is to get back to having five petrol stations, with two more sites anywhere within 200 miles of where I operate now.”
