A DILAPIDATED petrol station has been transformed into a hub of community services, thanks to a £1m investment from its owners.

The site at Yarnton, which has been operating for more than 100 years, was in danger of closure until it was taken over by Didcot-based Fraser Group, which has bucked the trend of petrol forecourt closures by providing a new BP branded site with Budgens supermarket, an expanded post office, off-licence and Subway sandwich shop, employing 30 people.

Operations manager Mark Wilson said: “With so many petrol stations closing, our business model has completely changed and we sell a wide range of things. Fuel is not the prime reason why people come here.”

Mr Wilson said the post office would be non-profit making. “Yarnton lost its main shop some years ago and the local people were desperate for us to keep the post office open.”

Local residents, some of who attended the opening, are delighted. Peter Astall, secretary of Yarnton Village Hall, said: “The post office has been retained annd improved, there is a much better filling station with better access and the shop itself is bigger and better.”

The Fraser Group, founded in 1954 in Rowstock, owns six sites, four of them in Oxfordshire.

Hugh and Robert Fraser's parents, Bob and Lallie, started the family business at Rowstock in 1954.