A F Blakemore & Son

The origins of A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd date back to 1917, when Arthur Blakemore opened a 350sq ft counter service store in Wolverhampton. A.F. Blakemore has grown considerably over the past century and now employs around 7,000 people with a turnover in excess of £1200 million per year. Despite this expansion, the company remains a family run business and is now in its third generation of ownership.

Arthur’s son Frank joined the firm, in 1929, while grandson Peter is the organisation’s current Managing Director. In 1975 the company became a key player in the world-wide SPAR symbol group and currently supplies more than 700 stores across England and Wales. Following the acquisition of Tates Ltd in 1994, A.F. Blakemore also has a strong “own-stores” division encompassing more than 200 SPAR shops.

New headquarters and distribution facilities were opened in Willenhall during the 1980s. These have since been extended several times to meet the growing demands of the company’s expanding retail operation. There are eight Blakemore Wholesale depots scattered across England and Wales along with an ever-expanding Food Service operation, based in Darlaston. The company also runs highly successful Fresh Foods and shop-fitting divisions.

A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd has built its success upon a strong sense of community and commitment to its loyal workforce. The company will remain true to these traditional values as it moves into the ever-changing retail marketplace of the 21st century.

•          Founded in 1917 with a 350 sq.ft grocery store in Wolverhampton

•          Family owned business, part of local community –  the company is held in trust.

•          Peter Blakemore owns 95% of the shares, the rest are owned by the family.

•          UK’s 54th largest private company (will be higher next year due to the recent acquisition of Cappers).

•          Group turnover of £1200m pa.

•          7,000+ employees

•          6 operating divisions

•          Europe’s largest Spar franchisee – 400 stores

•          Europe’s largest Spar distributors – 1100 stores


Customer Base

The group strength is in distribution to Impulse and Convenience Sectors. Our key customers are as follows:

Spar – over 1000 Spar stores served.

BP Retail – we supply the stock for around 400 forecourts.

Lifestyle Express stores – we supply around 400 stores

We are the largest supplier of snacks, soft drinks and confectionery to the UK vending industry.

Other Multiple Site Operators  include Rippleglen (120 CTN sites), Cornwall Garages (multiple site forecourt operator),  IDEAL News Group – over 100 members (CTNs in East Anglia), GT News – multiple site newsagent, Euro Garages, TOTAL Forecourts, Bourne Leisure (Haven Holiday Parks), Bunzl, Autobar and Aramark.

Product Range.

With respect to the categories covered in the tender, we enjoy well established relationships with all the U.K. major suppliers. Many of these suppliers are our category partners, with whom we work to develop our range and commercial offer on behalf of our customers.

Our group spend on Confectionery, Soft Drinks, and Snacks is upwards of £100m pa. We are thus a major customer of the key suppliers and are supported as such.

From a logistics perspective we are highly experienced in buying, storing ,managing  and delivering these product categories and have the systems and experience in place to reassure potential customers.

This status helps us to ensure that our customers benefit from our relationships .

Our division stocks over 20,000 SKU’s, however we would source product specially for your contract if minimum orders and date life criteria could be managed.