A lifelong Liverpool fan fulfilled his dream of buying a petrol station in the city.
Blackburn-based Naz Zokiuddin, director of Refuel Forecourts, built his petrol station business from scratch after starting out in the industry when he left university almost 20 years ago.
After buying his first petrol station in Manchester in 2019, Naz expanded his business to sites in Wakefield and Middlesbrough but always held hopes of securing a site in Liverpool. So when a freehold site became available in Bootle this year, he snapped it up.
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In all, Refuel Forecourts employs 35 staff from local areas. The firm also has a family focus, with Naz's father-in-law joining the business in 2021. Naz looked to financing from NatWest to make his dream a reality.
He said: "I've always wanted to expand the business and Liverpool has been a dream spot for me because of supporting the football club. I'm delighted to have secured my first site in Liverpool with the help of a funding package from NatWest and I'm looking forward to supplying the city with fuel.
"Selling fuel is the only business I know and it’s an exciting and competitive industry. There’s lots of change in the market at the moment, with hydrogen and electric fuels coming to the fore. As well as looking for more sites, I plan to buy land around my forecourts so I can accommodate electric charging points and other more environmentally friendly fuel options to ensure the business can adapt to the changes in the industry."
David Snellgrove, senior relationship manager at NatWest, said: "It's been fantastic to be able to support Naz to achieve his dream with a site in Liverpool and even better to know that the business now has a finance package which means they can look to adapt with the market and move towards a more environmentally friendly future of fuel. I'm really excited to see what's next for Naz and the team."
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