FORECOURT TRADER AWARDS: A winning line-up

A great time was had by all at the recent Forecourt Trader Awards ceremony, which celebrated the hard work, innovation and creativity of forecourt retailers nationwide at a glamorous awards evening held at the Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge, London.

The glittering event saw Tout’s Cleeve win Forecourt Trader of the Year, but there were many other winners who earned well-deserved accolades. See story here. See highlights and pix here. 

Host for the evening was actor and comedian Stephen Mangan - best known for his roles as Guy Secretan in the television series ‘Green Wing’, Sean Lincoln in Episodes, Dan Moody in ‘I’m Alan Partridge’ and as holistic detective Dirk Gently in the BBC adaptation of Douglas Adams’ book ’Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’.

With the support of principal sponsor Booker, as well as category sponsors Gadjet, CCEP, CDG, Spar, Essar, Jordan Group, Costa Express, JTI, BAT, Rollover, The Forecourt Show, Lumina Intelligence and Convenience Store, the Forecourt Trader Awards are the fuel retailing sector’s must-attend event.

Alongside a grand dinner and glittering awards ceremony the evening included a drinks reception sponsored by Greenergy; after-dinner bar sponsored by Fifo; photobooth and pizza machine sponsored by ME Group; casino and Scalextric; as well as live music and DJ until 2am, sponsored by Republic Technologies. 

With a record number of entries for the judges had a really tough job sifting through them to come up with the finalists.

After a mammoth judging session that has involved taking to the roads across the north, south, east and west of England, as well as Scotland and Northern Ireland the shortlist was revealed in August.

Congratulations to all the finalists and the winners – such was the calibre of the entries that just being shortlisted for these awards really was, in itself, a great achievement.

Ian Taylor, Spar UK retail director, said: “The Forecourt Trader Awards offer an incredible opportunity to showcase top-class retailers who operate in the forecourt industry. Congratulations to all our SPAR and EUROSPAR winners and finalists. It was a great evening celebrating dynamic forecourt retail businesses and people, who are constantly innovating in a very fast moving industry.”

Patrick Doody, sales and marketing director at Henderson Group which owns the Spar brand in Northern Ireland, added: “Spar and Eurospar forecourts in Northern Ireland brought home nine awards this year, which is a testament to the standard of forecourt and community retailing taking place in Northern Ireland, making its mark across the UK. We are thrilled for our regional and speciality award winners which span across stores, teams and individuals from our company owned estate and our independent retail partners who continue to excel in this competitive sector.”

Principal sponsor and specialist category sponsors:

Associate sponsors:

• Greenergy
• Fifo
• ME Group International plc 
• Republic Technologies (UK) Ltd