A new fuel brand has appeared on a Lancashire petrol forecourt, and is likely to appear on another 10 sites next year.

At a time when many of the major national names are pulling back from the petrol station business, Padiham family-owned business, Cooke Fuels, is stepping in to develop a new forecourt brand.

The first new Cooke Fuels petrol station has now opened at Chatburn, near Clitheroe.

The site is owned by local couple Charlotte and Graham Mitchell, who were delighted when Cooke agreed to become their new fuel supplier as their previous contract came to an end.

Cooke Fuels area retail manager Annette Perry said: "Charlotte and Graham needed to find an alternative and we were the perfect choice for them."

"We are really wanting to develop the Cooke name in new directions and this is the start of a new brand with a great new contemporary feel that should make our forecourts stand out from the crowd."

Annette added that the company was confident that this would be a lucrative area for development, particularly as larger companies concentrated their efforts on sites that guaranteed higher volumes of customers and sales.

"We may be a smaller company but we can, therefore, offer a greater level of support and training, and offer the best speed of delivery at all times, which is something we pride ourselves on across all areas of the company," she said.