UK: Rontec Chairman Gerald Ronson celebrates 50 years in fuel retailing
Gerald Ronson, the pioneer of self-service petrol stations in the UK and Chairman of Rontec today celebrated 50 years in roadside retailing.
Ronson launched his first petrol station in St. Albans on 24th March 1966 and has since built over 1,000 service stations. The acquisition of Total UK’s Retail Network in 2012 signalled his return to the sector in scale and Rontec has since become a £1 billion plus turnover business - one of the largest independent roadside retailers in the UK.
He marked the golden milestone at a lunch attended by long serving colleagues, family, industry giants, suppliers and business partners.
“50 years ago, Beatlemania was in full swing across the UK but, at the age of 26, I was busy launching my business which would revolutionise petrol stations. Our combination of service, quality and low prices meant that when we opened our first station in St. Albans in 1966, we had queues of cars for half a mile waiting to fill up at four shillings and 10 pence (old money) a gallon,” said Ronson.
Ronson also spoke of the huge change the industry has undergone over the years he´s been a participant of it.
“The business we have built reflects our hard work. But the petrol industry has also changed a lot over the last half century. When I started out, there were around 38,000 filling stations in the UK; now there are probably fewer than 9,000, with just four remaining in Central London,” he explained.
Rontec is one of the leading independent forecourt groups in the UK operating over 220 sites across England and Wales
