The Tanvir family purchases its fifth forecourt

The Tanvir family has acquired Bawtry Road Service Station on the outskirts of Rotherham, which it has converted to a Jet/Premier outlet in line with the rest of its portfolio.

It is investing around £100,000 on developing the South Yorkshire site – which joins three locations in the north east of England, at Wallsend, Hebburn and Seaham, as well as another in Birmingham.

The development will include the relining of fuel tanks, and the installation of new pumps early next year, diversifying into super unleaded petrol, alongside standard unleaded petrol and diesel on its bank of 18 nozzles. A new canopy replacing the previous Texaco branded version has been introduced, and the family will continue to run the MOT service centre on the site.

Also, next month a shop refit will begin, including new shelves, fridges and lights, says Arbaaz Tanvir, who works at the family business owned by his parents Mohammed and Rukhsana Tanvir.

Their latest acquisition on Bawtry Road, a busy dual carriageway linking the M18 and M1, turns over seven million litres per annum of fuel, benefiting from passing and commuter traffic. It has a reputation for being one of the cheapest in the area, with unleaded currently at 128.9p per litre.

Despite having a Tesco Express opposite, and a Sainsbury’s and Morrisons within two miles, the forecourt has a footfall of over 800 on a typical week day. This, says Arbaaz means that there is scope for the business to extend its hot food and drinks to go offer, as well as introducing a new Costa coffee machine, and an expanded range of groceries. And Arbaaz says that he is considering extending the current 7am to 8pm opening hours by an extra hour in the morning and two hours at night.

“We were interested in this site because it was on the market for a decent price, and it is a busy site that was not too run down, so that it had potential to make improvements,” he says.

Andrew Birnie director at Christie & Co, who handled the sale, agrees. “Bawtry Road Service Station provided an excellent opportunity for a potential new owner, and we had a number of enquiries as soon as the business was listed,” he says. ”We quickly secured a deal with the purchaser, Mr Tanvir, who has exciting plans for the business going forward – I wish him the best of luck in this venture.”

The Tanvirs purchased their first petrol station in 2002. For religious reasons the family does not sell alcohol from its sites. It is on the look out for further acquisitions, says Arbaaz. “We are always looking and if something comes up, particularly if it doesn’t sell alcohol, we could well be interested,” he says.