Costcutter forecourt in Wrexham changes hands after 40 years

Caergwrle Filling Station in Wrexham, Wales, run by the James family for 43 years, has been acquired by forecourt operator Jets Trading Limited.

The site, located on the A541, operates under the Costcutter brand and comprises a convenience store and four double pump islands. The forecourt is ideally situated on the main thoroughfare leading into Wrexham.

The business came to market through the specialist business property adviser Christie & Co as the current owner, Barry James is set to retire. His son, Mike James, who works alongside him, commented: “After 43 years of ownership I’m looking forward to seeing my parents finally having a well-earned retirement and spending as much time as they can with their grandkids.

“We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the local Caergwrle village community for all their support given over the many years. I grew up at the garage myself so there’s a lot of sentimental value and memories which I’ll take with me.

“I wish the new owners, Das and Janaka at Jets Trading all the very best with the business, it’s a fantastic community that they have bought into and I’m excited to see how they evolve the site over the coming years.”

Dasitha (Das) Gamage and Janaka Watowita, of Jets Trading, said: “We are delighted to have acquired our second site through Christie & Co. They were very professional and helpful throughout the process and a special thanks goes Ashley Cobban for negotiating the deal for us and also Jimmy Johns for helping us to secure the necessary funding. We look forward to operating this well-established premises.”

Gamage and Watowita, who has many years of experience operating retail stores, acquired their first forecourt business, Ross Road Garage, located along the busy A40, just outside of Huntley, in September.

Caergwrle Filling Station was sold off a guide price of £510,000, Christie & Co has revealed, and the funding for both purchases has secured through Christie Finance, .

“It was great to work with Das and Janaka, who are building a really successful portfolio of petrol forecourts and retail operations. This is the second transaction Christie Finance has funded for the business this year as they continue to rapidly grow,” Jimmy Johns, director at Christie Finance, said.