Thread by @Telegraph

⛽️❓Where did all our petrol stations go?

The threats currently facing forecourts follow decades of decline and consolidation as stations seek to reinvent themselves

telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/…

📉The total number of petrol stations in the UK declined from 37,500 in 1970 to 8,591 at the end of 2014.

➡️About 176 petrol stations closed each year in the decade to 2014

⛽️While the pattern of falling pump numbers has been repeated across Europe, the UK still has thousands fewer stations than Italy, Germany, Spain and France

Several forecourts have closed this week amid panic-buying of petrol, triggered by mild fuel shortages due to a shortage of tank drivers to deliver the liquid good.

⛽️Increasingly, however, fuel is not the main reason for visits to the local petrol station

BP, which has a tie-up with Marks & Spencer, said in 2017 that half of visitors to its sites do not buy fuel.

⚡️Forecourt owners are now seeking to build on that trend in the era of the electric car
telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/…

Petrol station owners globally are trying ever more creative ways to keep and monetise business as the electric car era looms

🥫Higher margin food, drinks, snacks and services such as car washes, however, are a good way of keeping customers’ attention and getting them to open wallets

⛽️ Has your local petrol station closed down in recent years?

Read the full report 👇
telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/…