Joseph Richardson has this week (Thursday, April 3) succeeded in his long-held ambition of opening his first new to industry forecourt – the £3.5 million Eden Service Station in Malton, North Yorkshire.
The 1.72 acre site, on the busy A169 commuter route just off the A64, has gone live with a team of 16 in time to benefit from holidaymakers travelling to the coast, York and North Yorkshire Moors this Easter and summer.
The 24-hour BP forecourt includes eight petrol pumps under canopy and two HGV pumps incorporating AdBlue, two jet washes and an Aquarama rollover from Airserv, as well as an air and screen machine and a vacuum. Also there is over 30 customer parking spaces, with dedicated caravan parking for coastal traffic.
There are also plans to introduce around half a dozen ultra-rapid electric vehicle chargers, in what will be the first for the Top 50 Indie Jos Richardson & Son, which now operates 11 petrol filling stations, and one dry convenience store outlet.
Other sustainability credentials include solar panels on the shop roof and forecourt canopy, energy saving LED lights in the forecourt shop and canopy, and doors on chillers.
The modern glass-fronted 2,700sq ft Spar store represents other ‘firsts’ for the Selby-based fifth generation family business, including shelf-edge labelling, and James Hall’s Clayton Park Bakery and Cheeky Coffee food and drink to go.
In the food to go area there is a breakfast bar with customer plug-in points and four seats, together with an indoor seating area with two tables with eight chairs.
In a move to embracing automation there is also a self-checkout which incorporates fuel payments, and a queuing system to direct customers to use this technology.
There is also an off-licence area, a focus on fresh and convenience food, and Cook frozen meals.
Other features include an internal self-fill cash machine, and male, female and wheelchair access toilets, and a lit Spar fascia.
Richardson has high hopes for the site, which is on the Eden Business Park and was built by Leeds-based McFadden Building & Civil Engineering. Next door, planning has been given for a McDonald’s and a coffee shop drive-thru, which will create further traffic to his site, he believes.
“I’ve been excited for it to open and from a managing director point of view I have been most pleased with how the team have handled everything. They have been so well organised and professional.”
“It is the first genuine new to industry petrol filling station that I have done. I’ve introduced a truck stop and overseen knockdown rebuilds, but this is my first new to industry site. It’s always been an ambition, but the opportunity doesn’t come around that often when you limit sites to our geography, and you are in competition with the bigger operators,” says Richardson.
“I want to be part of a modern service station sector. No matter what happens in the next decade or so people will still move around.”
