INDEPENDENT retailers in Yate showed local MP Luke Hall how their store is a ‘pillar of the local community’.


MP Luke Hall, for Thornbury and Yate, visited the SPAR convenience store and Stanshawe Service Station on Friday July 10, and met with the independent store retailers from the family-run business, Rod Kembrey, 56, and his wife Sue, 55.


The pair, from Coalpit Heath, aimed to show Mr Hall how the SPAR store in Westerleigh Road, which has been trading since 2003, provides ‘a social hub to the residents living in and around the area.’


Mr Hall said: “I visited the Stanshawe Service Station to talk to Sue Kembrey about the proposals to devolve power to local authorities to determine changes to Sunday opening hours.


“As a local man who has worked in retail since the age of 16, and the chairman of the All Party Group on Retail in parliament, it is hugely important to engage with local businesses about these important changes.

"Sue works extremely hard and customer service is clearly very important to her."


“It was a very useful visit, as Stanshawes is a business that could be affected by changes to Sunday trading hours, as she has three supermarkets within a mile of her, Lidl, Morrisons and Tesco.”


Mrs Kembrey said: “It was fantastic for Luke to take the time to come out and visit our store today.


“It allowed him to see first-hand just how important local shops are to an area and to show him just how hard we work as retailers.


"We were able to talk about how business rates affect small businesses, and I look forward to building on what we spoke about."


The SPAR Convenience store was built almost 50 years ago by the family, and in that time was trading with Shell as their fuel supplier.