Former Forecourt Trader of the Year winner Graham Kennedy is back with a bang having just re-opened his site in York with the aim of it becoming the best site in the UK - "if not Planet Earth".

Graham, the managing director of Inner Space Stations, has invested £1 million in the new BP-branded site, in Hull Road, York, which took four months to redevelop. The new site features a bigger shop, with a wider range of chilled and frozen meals, as well as fresh fruit and veg.

The company has also introduced Stone Willy’s Kitchen, which offers a broad range of gourmet pizza, freshly made wraps and hot snacks to-go, 24 hours a day.

The 24-hour service station has been designed by award-winning architects, Jennings Design Ltd, with design features including a "futuristic, ultramodern glass frontage", as well as a "space-age finish" throughout.

Graham, who has more than 30 years’ experience within the service station industry, said: “Consumer spending habits are changing, with people making smaller purchases more frequently. We want to make sure that we are providing our customers with everything they need, at any time of the day, and as quickly as possible. The new enlarged shop, together with the touchless car wash, five valeting bays and self storage units, makes us the one of most advanced retailers in the industry.”

Inner Space Stations has encompassed unique design features throughout the new store. Internally, the ceiling lighting represents rocket launchers and staff now operate from a “mission control” centre at the front of the store.

The company has also included over £100,000 worth of advanced refrigeration, with the fridges to the rear of the shop incorporating micro technology and acrylic doors to house the extensive range of beers and wines, as well as selected premium wines from local suppliers, York Wines and Field & Fawcett.

Graham said: “The visual impact is extremely important to me and we’ve created a store in which people can see everything on offer from the moment they enter. The height of our fridges and shelving has been set lower than any other store in York, so customers have sight of our full range from wherever they are stood within the store”.

Karen Peacock, Hull Road manager, added: “We have over 9,000 customers visiting our site each week, and they’re not all here for fuel. The service station really does offer total convenience, 24 hours a day. We have included an additional till point to reduce queuing as speed of service is vital to customers and we are trying to follow the mantra that two is a queue”

During the redevelopment, customers of Inner Space Stations continuously asked what was happening to the Daleks and Cyberman. Karen said: “I’m happy to report that the Daleks and Cyberman are back, bigger and bolder than ever before and upgraded with the latest Dalek technology… so beware!”

Inner Space Stations have identified their new store as “the last shop before Mars” with the ambition to one day operate in outer space.

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