A family who have been offering fuel so cheaply that hundreds of motorists have been queuing for a mile to fill up have sold their garage days later. Ian Bailey, owner of Bailey’s garage in Abergavenny, decided to speak publicly about the reasons behind the sale after some took to social media to accuse him of flogging the fuel at bargain prices before selling up.
Ian, 53, inherited the Brecon Road garage from his father and has grown it into a thriving business supremely popular with locals for more than 50 years. In fact, it became so popular that they opened a separate DIY store in 2012, now run by Ian’s children and which has developed a significant following on social media due to their daily video updates from the store.
The garage hit national headlines last month for being one of the first in Britain to drastically reduce fuel prices to 20p cheaper than the national average. Ian said his wife, who has been involved with the family business for 37 years, “hasn’t stopped crying” since news of the sale was confirmed. “I also feel really sad and as though a family member has died to be honest with you,” Ian told WalesOnline from the garage before it was officially sold on Wednesday.
“Ascona Retail approached us 18 months ago to buy it, and we’ve not known since whether it was actually going to happen or not. Even until last Thursday we didn’t really know.
“That’s why it upset me to see some comments on social media from Mickey Mouse platforms accusing us of getting rid of old stock cheaply. That was never the case, and we wouldn’t have old stock anyway - it’s impossible.
“I’m not one hundred percent sure whether I’ve made the right or wrong decision. I don’t know. The garage has never been for sale, but we felt we couldn’t say no.”
Recalling his younger years at the garage, Ian said: “I was three when my parents bought it and my mum worked the two pumps in all weather and my dad was in the showroom and the workshop. 34 years ago they decided to demolish the showroom and workshop and make the garage what it is today.
“In Abergavenny at the time there were probably seven or eight service stations and we developed ours before anyone else did. There is actually not that much money in fuel and there never has been, we took most of the money in the shop because we have always worked on such low percentages. The others only tended to have the fuel side of the business and they were smaller, so many of them fell by the wayside.”
In his 50 years at the garage Ian was in no doubt what the most difficult challenge has been. “Definitely Covid, when we lost 78 percent of our trade,” he explained. “Most garages went to reduced hours, but because we are so well-known and people rely on us I couldn’t do it. I said no, we can’t do it.”
Ian said recent petrol price hikes have had no bearing on the decision to sell. In fact, he says now is an ideal time to run an independent garage.
“As time goes on I think supermarkets will keep their prices high because they can’t afford to do all of the deals with their food, so I think at the moment it is a good time for independent service stations to stick around.
“We got our prices every day from BP and generally every garage works to a similar pricing structure. Seven weeks ago we were probably the most expensive because prices for fuel had rocketed across Europe.
“It was really frustrating. I was on the phone to BP asking why, and they said it will catch up with others and when it was viable we could drop our prices. When we could in July we dropped them straight down, and I’ve noticed not many others did - which I really struggled to get my head around.
“I do see the odd one or two popping up now dropping their prices, but they’re few and far between. I can’t explain why.”
Ian dropped prices to 163 pence per litre for unleaded petrol and 177.9 for diesel. He said he was “stunned” with the reaction after word of his prices got around.
“After a couple of days people clearly started hearing about it and we became busy. Then it was in WalesOnline and it went berserk. We had people driving from Swansea and the Valleys. You might well say why are people driving that far and sitting in a queue for petrol, but I think they were doing it to make a point. Drivers I spoke to told me that.”
After making the sale public this week Ian’s post has received more than 1.5k reactions on social media, which he says has been “overwhelming”. “I’ve made many good memories with them over the years, so many good people,” he added.
“That’ll be the worst part [of selling] - I’m really going to miss them and the banter every day. I’ve had the best time of my life with them.
“I’m going to retire now and enjoy my life. I’ve never had a family holiday because of my ties to the garage. One thing I’ve always wanted to do with my life is take the children and grandchildren away. I can do that now.”
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