When Rohan Xavier took ownership of Windermere Service Station, his priority was to renew the site’s fuel agreement with Gulf Retail.

This was preceded by a revitalisation of the business in the form of a shop refit and the introduction of the Londis brand.

"Our site is situated in Windermere Town Centre," explained Xavier. "It serves a large local community as well as tourist traffic. It had been performing well with Gulf. The brand is well respected in the area and we had no hesitation in extending the relationship. With Gulf’s help we have transformed the look and feel of the shop and it is now much more customer friendly."

Windermere Service Station currently pumps 1.2 million litres a year with weekly shop sales of around £5k. Gulf was able to assist the new owner in securing competitive external finance to undertake the refit and introduce a Torex back-office system.

Tony Bailey, Gulf’s shop consultant, said: "We introduced the Londis brand to Rohan and were able to secure around £3k worth of gantry units free of charge and save him £12k on the refit. That saving covered the entire cost of the till and back-office systems. The work is now complete and weekly turnover is expected to achieve £9k per week with profits doubling." "It was important to brighten up the site and we have done that by introducing a small mini-market that will better serve the community," said Xavier. "We expect sales to increase in all areas. The site has a strong future under the Gulf and Londis brands."