Pub-turned-forecourt launches in Mirfield as ‘community destination hub’

A forecourt has launched in Mirfield on the site of an old pub, offering a variety of different services.

Salim Patel, the store owner, opened The Swan forecourt in Mirfield, West Yorkshire on 25 April. Salim, who has over 36 years’ experience in the retail industry, said he was motivated to open a store on the site between Mirfield and Dewsbury as he saw there was need for a forecourt on the M62.

Salim said it was his dream to create “a community destination hub” and The Swan forecourt offers a variety of different services such as a Nisa store, valeting bay, petrol filling services and an electric vehicle charging point as well as an outdoor seating area.

The forecourt store also has an American section and a Food to Go area – offering English breakfast in the morning and Indian cuisine – and a ‘Fresh’ corner offering coffee machine, ice cream, Tango Ice Blasts. “I wanted a store with everything for everybody”, Salim said.

The Swan forecourt opened on the site that The Swan Pub used to operate. Salim said that The Swan Pub had been around for many years and was an important hub for the local community, and therefore he wanted to keep the name and sign the same. “We kept the old signage for the pub and restored it… because this is important for the local community.”

The store held a launch event which was supported by Nisa, BP and Red Bull. Salim said that “Nisa did a lot of work behind the scenes”, alongside Red Bull and BP, to support the store launch. The store welcomed 60 guests from across the country who visited the store to show their support. Salim said that the support the Nisa store development team offered him was “excellent” in the run up to the store launch.

The Swan forecourt is the third forecourt project that Salim has launched. Explaining why he chose Nisa, Salim said: “I have found their product is really good, especially the Co-op own brand products, which is a very strong brand. I really wanted my local area to have access to competitive pricing, but also a strong brand. That’s why I chose Nisa.”

Victoria Lockie, head of retail at Nisa, said: “The Swan in Mirfield is a perfect example of how retailers can create a community hub by operating multi-faceted store offering a variety of services. It is great to see that the local community have got behind the store and have supported Salim’s work. The availability of Co-op own brand has meant that Nisa stores, such as The Swan, can offer high quality own brand items at competitive pricing.”