NTS Group completed this week on the purchase of Old Town Service Station on the A259 in Eastbourne, and says it has two further forecourts in the pipeline to acquire this year.
The Esso forecourt, previously owned by Pricewatch Group, brings the New Malden-based operator’s network to 24 petrol stations. It has two pumps and eight fuel nozzles, a jet wash bay and air machine, and a 1,150sq ft Nisa Local branded shop.
NTS Group chief executive Thayaparan Nalliah said that he wanted to buy the forecourt, which has an annual fuel volume of over two million litres, primarily because of its closeness to an outlet already owned by the business in Bexhill, a 30 minutes drive away.
But the site also benefits from having had a contemporary refit when it was rebranded as a Nisa Local last year. At the time the former owners, the Salvidge brothers, invested in food to go with Country Choice, and Rollover hot dogs added to the range. The store also has a Costa, and a Skwishee machine.
Thaya has already updated the store’s electronic shelf edge labelling, as part of a roll-out of the technology to seven of the business’s biggest sites by the end of the year. However, he says that his latest acquisition needs no further imminent work.
Other recent investment by NTS Group across its wider estate includes the introduction this October of two Ad Blue pumps at its Falmouth forecourt. Thaya says that the site will be the second after Weoley Castle in the West Midlands to have this service. It made sense to put Ad Blue onto pump at these two sites because they have strong sales in Ad Blue bottles, and, says Thaya, fuel volume is increasing across the business.
