Forecourt company Jet has just welcomed three former Prax sites in the Gill Marsh Forecourts portfolio into its network, after moving quickly to provide alternative supplies to the business following Prax’s liquidation announcement last June.
The three Lincolnshire sites - Bilsby and Partney Filling Stations and Ulceby Cross - officially joined the network on 27 April 2026 as Jet branded sites.
Tom Dant, MD of Gill Marsh Forecourts Limited, said the move was shaped by both the speed of Jet’s response and the strength of the relationship that followed.
While the three sites sit within around just five miles of each other, each has been developed around a different customer need, reflecting Gill Marsh’s highly localised approach to forecourt retailing, it said.
All three stores will trade under the Spar fascia, supplied by A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd. Across the portfolio, Gill Marsh has “focused on building a differentiated convenience offer shaped by customer needs and feedback, site-by-site trialling and local insight,” it said, alongside Tom’s Kitchen, its own homemade food-to-go proposition using locally sourced produce.
Bilsby - the original site in the portfolio - operates more as a village shop proposition, serving an older local community with a Post Office, a 1,500 sq.ft. shop and products from local suppliers, including Lakings Butchers and Pocklington’s Bakery.
Meanwhile, Partney is the second busiest site on a coastal route to Skegness and carries a strong caravan range aimed at holidaymakers heading to the coast, alongside international drinks, world food lines and DoughGirl cookie pies.
Ulceby Cross, the portfolio’s flagship site, was expanded 18 months ago and now includes a 3,000 sq.ft. shop with indoor and outdoor seating, free Wi-Fi, air conditioning and a broader eat-in and food-to-go proposition built around Tom’s Kitchen prepared on-site.
Dant said: “Although the sites are close together, the customer base at each one is different, so we don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. We keep testing, listening and adjusting - whether that’s through local suppliers, world food ranges or specialist products - so each site reflects the customers and community it serves.”
“The customer response has been phenomenal, with people now driving for miles just to shop our extensive world foods range or sample our ever-popular breakfast. We’ve transformed Ulceby Cross from a traditional fuel station with a small kiosk-style shop into a shopping destination in its own right that happens to sell fuel!”
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