MFG Success at 2024 Forecourt Trader of The Year Awards
Motor Fuel Group (MFG) secured five awards, including Forecourt Trader of the Year, at the industry’s premier awards last night.
The UK’s largest independent took the top prize at the Forecourt Trader Awards 2024 for its St Clears site in Carmarthenshire, which the judges said set the bar for the forecourt of tomorrow.
The awards, presented by TV presenter Ben Shephard, took place in front of 720 guests at London’s Westminster Park Plaza hotel.
MFG, which operates over 1,200 forecourts, also won best in region awards for sites in Eastbourne, Faversham, and Musselburgh, as well as the St Clears location.
The judges were impressed with MFG St Clears’ array of services, which includes electric vehicle charging, jet washing, a sit-down Pret a Manger, and a convenience offer that strongly supports local suppliers. They said that, despite a competitive local market, the forecourt had won a place in the community’s heart, just one year after opening.
The site includes six ultra-rapid charging bays as well as AdBlue on pump, InPost lockers and a free ATM. The Pret concession, within the Budgens store, has rapidly become a hit in the local area.
According to Forecourt Trader editor Juliet Morrison, it was hard to find fault with the entry. “MFG St Clears is setting the pace in the forecourt sector as the industry embraces new opportunities. It is a site worthy of a visit by other operators looking to future-proof their business in the coming years,” she says.
MFG’s success in adapting to local markets its successful template of extensive EV charging, valeting, and a strong convenience and food to go proposition was recognised with awards for its Monktonhall site, near Edinburgh – a £5 million knockdown rebuild on a prime site off the A1, popular with truck drivers – as well as its Thanet Way forecourt in Kent. The latter site increased its range of Eastern European foodstuffs to reflect a changing local demographic. Its forecourt in Langney, Eastbourne had strengthened its community presence with a strong social media outreach.
Judges applauded MFG for embracing the transition to EV and all the ancillary services that come with it including picnic tables, laundry machines and parcel lockers, while developing the 337 Morrisons petrol forecourts it acquired this year, with a convenience-led food offer.
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Pictured here (l to r) Forecourt Trader’s editor Juliet Morrison, Booker Retail Partner’s managing director Colm Johnson, MFG’s Rob Mansell and TV presenter Ben Shephard.