Location: This 24-hour site is on the Bewtry Road close to a busy retail park.

Forecourt:

The first pole sign you see coming from Selby town centre is one with the huge Spar green fir tree on top, then the Spar name, next comes Jet, then the fuel prices followed by the Subway logo, Cheeky Café and ATM.

It’s a smart forecourt area with clean white pumps with the Jet logo on them.

There’s a Jet Wash Centre with the usual air and water machines and jet washes, but what is more unusual is a van wash with a platform so van drivers can climb the few steps and be in a good position to wash the whole of their van. However, at the time of my visit it was out of order.

There is also a 24/7 launderette outside, where you can wash 8kg of items for £4; 18kg for £8 and dry 18kg for £2. This faces on to the main road so you wouldn’t want to be washing your ’smalls’ in front of all the traffic. Next to this there’s an Amazon Locker and an InPost collection point.

The flowers in front of the shop were either dying or were dead, which was a shame as there was a chalkboard notice saying ’Go on give her a treat. Beautiful fresh flowers from only £4.99. Just think of the benefits!’. I think the only benefit of giving these flowers would be a divorce.

There are quite a few parking spaces across the site.

Shop:

Above the door there are the Subway and Spar names as well as the name NJB Services. There is extensive signage outside for the Cheeky Café and a message ’We roast it!’ to indicate the site’s own blend of Cheeky Coffee. There is also advertising for the Subway Sub of the Day. And there is advertising on bollards for USN protein products.

Inside, it’s a well laid-out Spar store with all the categories you’d expect to find inside, however there were some gaps on shelves. One particular category of note is the extensive protein range, which includes bars and drinks as well as big drums of powders.

The Subway is sited at the far end near the tills and was promoting a VIP upgrade where you could upgrade your six-inch sub or salad for double meat or cheese for £1. Despite there being a Subway, the shop also offers a £3.50 meal deal.

Next to the tills there are self-service ones for shop goods only, which must help at busy times.

The lottery machine was not working at the time of my visit. Staff were very apologetic and said it was unusual for it not to have been working.

Downstairs there is a disabled toilet and upstairs more toilets.

Upstairs is the impressive Cheeky Café, which is open from 7am to 3pm daily and from 8am to 2pm on Sundays. As well as the stairs, there’s a lift for disabled people or those with pushchairs. The Cheeky Café has a cheetah as its logo so paw/claw prints up the stairs show you you’re heading the right way. The Café is a really nice space for a break, with big glass windows where you can unwind and watch the world go by. Cheeky Breakfasts are served until 2pm and range from the Cub at £3.25 to the Big Cat at £5.99 and everything in between eg breakfast baps and croissants. Obviously the Café offers lunches and snacks too. There is also the Cheeky Charging Zone with sockets and USB ports.

Prognosis:

Abbeyside was the subject of a knock-down rebuild last year and the owner, Nick Baker, has done an excellent job fitting in a state-of-the-art forecourt and c-store plus café in a triangular shaped piece of land.

diagnosis:

It’s still early days for this re-imagined site so I suspect it has yet to reach its full footfall/trading potential.

prescription:

The flowers outside the shop let the place down. They should have been taken off sale. In hot weather flowers need much more careful attention. Also the gaps on the shelves were a little disappointing but would not take too much effort to fix.

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