Ayrshire-based Jet forecourt owner Brian Connolly, who opened the first Jet and Spar dual-branded site, has bought a second service station, in the market town of Dalmellington, 10 miles from his first forecourt at Maybole.

The Dalmellington site is located on the Galloway Tourist route, which runs from the A74(M) at Gretna to Ayr and is popular with caravans and bikers.

The 3mlpa Jet-supplied forecourt has eight nozzles and a separate fast delivery diesel pump. Bunkering fuel is popular with passing HGV vehicles, which wasn’t an option for the Maybole site due to a lack of space. The 1,000sq ft convenience store is currently supplied by Booker.

Jet has supplied Dalmellington’s fuel for more than 15 years and, when he bought the site, Brian signed a new five-year contract with Jet. He explained: “Jet has been my supplier at Maybole for some 13 years now and have never once let me down. As well as being a really strong brand in the local area, Jet’s offer is competitive and I know that I can rely on them to help me mirror the success of Jet Maybole.”

In 2015, investment in Jet Maybole quadrupled its size from 1,000 to 4,000sq ft, and the service station become the UK’s first Jet and Spar dual-branded site. Business at the site has continued to grow, with fuel sales rising by 10% and turnover increasing by £1.1m.

Following his experience at Maybole Brian is keen to develop his new site. He said: “Dalmellington is quite similar to Maybole in that it has older established buildings to the rear which were formerly a garage workshop. In addition, the site has a popular detached ’snack shack’. I’m now considering plans to redevelop the buildings or replace them with new prefabricated buildings incorporating a sit-down coffee shop facility and an appropriate shop.

“Having been through the redevelopment at Maybole, I’m able to apply a lot of what worked well there to the changes at Dalmellington, in particular the shop layout and increasing footfall by introducing more value-added facilities.”

A Costa Coffee machine has already been introduced and is helping to drive forecourt footfall, with sales averaging 90 to 100 cups per day. Over the next few weeks, state-of-the-art jet wash, air and vacuum facilities will be introduced, as well as a 24/7 ‘Revolution’ outdoor self-service launderette, which Brian believes will help to increase footfall.

He added: “Demand for food-on-the-go is really high so this is an area we’re looking to develop. We’re in a great location on a busy thoroughfare and tourist route and there is tremendous potential for development. I want to turn the site into something special, offering a fantastic shop, modern ancillary equipment and, as always, great customer service.”

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